Class O -^^ ^ J 

Book. ^ „ 

Copyright}!^ , 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



HOME 
VEGETABLE 
GARDENING 




In the well managed home garden an ample supply of 
vegetables may be grown not only cheaper but infinitely 
better than can be bought. Nor need the "garden patch" 
be unsightly 



HOME 

VEGETABLE GARDENING 

A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE 
TO THE PLANTING AND CARE OF ALL 
VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND BERRIES 
WORTH GROWING FOR HOME USE 



BY 

F. F. ROCKWELL 




NEW YORK 
Mc BRIDE, WINSTON & COMPANY 
1911 



COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY 
McBRIDE. WINSTON it COMPANY 



First Editioh 

PtTBUSHBD ApBIL, 1911 



©CLA2Sn234 



PREFACE 



WITH some, the home vegetable garden 
is a hobby; with others, especially in 
these days of high prices, a great 
help. There are many in both classes whose 
experience in gardening has been restricted 
within very narrow bounds, and whose present 
spare time for gardening is limited. It is as 
^^first aid'^ to such persons, who want to do 
practical, efficient gardening, and do it with 
the least possible fuss and loss of time, that 
this book is written. In his own experience 
the author has found that garden books, 
while seldom lacking in information, often do 
not present it in the clearest possible . way. 
It has been his aim to make the present vol- 
ume first of all practical, and in addition to 
that, though comprehensive, yet simple and 
concise. If it helps to make the way of the 
home gardener more clear and definite, its 
purpose will have been accomplished. 



! 

II 



Chapter I 



INTRODUCTION 

FORMERLY it was the custom for gardeners 
to invest their labors and achievements 
with a mystery and secrecy which might 
well have discouraged any amateur from tres- 
passing upon such difficult ground. *'Trade 
secrets'' in either flower or vegetable growing were 
acquired by the apprentice only through practice 
and observation, and in turn jealously guarded by 
him until passed on to some younger brother in 
the profession. Every garden operation was made 
to seem a wonderful and difficult undertaking. 
Now, all that has changed. In fact the pendulum 
has swung, as it usually does, to the other extreme. 
Often, if you are a beginner, you have been flatter- 
ingly told in print that you could from the beginning 
do just as well as the experienced gardener. 

My garden friend, it cannot, as a usual thing, be 
done. Of course, it may happen and sometimes 
does. You might, being a trusting lamb, go down 
into Wall Street with $10,000 and make a fortune. 

(I) 



2 Home Vegetable Gardening 



You know that you would not be likely to; the 
chances are very much against you. This garden 
business is a matter of common sense ; and the man, 
or the woman, who has learned by experience how 
to do a thing, whether it is cornering the market or 
growing cabbages, naturally does it better than the 
one who has not. Do not expect the impossible. If 
you do, read a poultry advertisement and go into the 
hen business instead of tr}ang to garden. I have 
grown pumpkins that necessitated the tearing down 
of the fence in order to get them out of the lot, and 
sometimes, though not frequently, have had to use 
the axe to cut through a stalk of asparagus, but I 
never "made $17,000 in ten months from an egg- 
plant in a city back-yard." No, if you are going to 
take up gardening, you will have to work, and you 
will have a great many disappointments. All that 
I, or anyone else, could put between the two covers 
of a book will not make a gardener of you. It must 
be learned through the fingers, and back, too, as well 
as from the printed page. But, after all, the greatest 
reward for your efforts will be the work itself; 
and unless you love the work, or have a feeling 
that you will love it, probably the best way for you, 
is to stick to the grocer for your garden. 

Most things, in the course of development, 
change from the simple to the complex. The art 
of gardening has in many ways been an exception 



Introduction 



3 



to the rule. The methods of culture used for many 
crops are more simple than those in vogue a gen- 
eration ago. The last fifty years has seen also a tre- 
mendous advance in the varieties of vegetables, and 
the strange thing is that in many instances the new 
and better sorts are more easily and quickly grown 
than those they have replaced. The new lima 
beans are an instance of what is meant. While 
limas have always been appreciated as one of the 
most delicious of vegetables, in many sections they 
could never be succesfully grown, because of their 
aversion to dampness and cold, and of the long sea- 
son required to mature them. The newer sorts are 
not only larger and better, but hardier and earlier; 
and the bush forms have made them still more gen- 
erally available. 

Knowledge on the subject of gardening is also 
more widely diffused than ever before, and the 
science of photography has helped Vv^onderfully in 
telling the newcomer how to do things. It has also 
lent an impetus and furnished an inspiration which 
words alone could never have done. If one were 
to attempt to read all the gardening instructions 
and suggestions being published, he would have 
no time left to practice gardening at all. Why 
then, the reader may ask at this point, another 
garden book? It is a pertinent question, and it is 
right that an answer be expected in advance. The 



4 Home Vegetable Gardening 

reason, then, is this : while there are garden books 
in plenty, most of them pay more attention to the 
"content" than to the form in which it is laid before 
the prospective gardener. The material is often 
presented as an accumulation of detail, instead of by 
a systematic and constructive plan which will take 
the reader step by step through the work to be done, 
and make clear constantly both the principles and 
the practice of garden making and management, 
and at the same time avoid every digression un- 
necessary from the practical point of view. Other 
books again, are either so elementary as to be of 
little use where gardening is done without gloves, 
or too elaborate, however accurate and worthy in 
other respects, for an every-day working manual. 
The author feels, therefore, that there is a distinct 
field for the present book. 

And, while I still have the reader by the "intro- 
duction" buttonhole, I want to make a suggestion 
or two about using a book like this. Do not, on 
the one hand, read it through and then put it away 
with the dictionary and the family Bible, and trust 
to memory for the instruction it may give; do not, 
on the other hand, wait until you think it is time to 
plant a thing, and then go and look it up. For in- 
stance, do not, about the middle of May, begin in- 
vestigating how many onion seeds to put in a hill; 
you will find out that they should have been put in, 



Introduction 



5 



in drills, six weeks before. Read the whole book 
through carefully at your first opportunity, make 
a list of the things you should do for your own 
vegetable garden, and put opposite them the proper 
dates for your own vicinity. Keep this available, 
as a working guide, and refer to special matters as 
you get to them. 

Do not feel discouraged that you cannot be prom- 
ised immediate success at the start. I know from 
personal experience and from the experience of 
others that ''book-gardening" is a practical thing. 
If you do your work carefully and thoroughly, you 
may be confident that a very great measure of success 
will reward the efforts of your first garden season. 

And I know too, that you will find it the most 
entrancing game you ever played. 

Good luck to you ! 



Chapter II 



WHY YOU SHOULD GARDEN 

THERE are more reasons to-day than ever be- 
fore why the owner of a small place should 
have his, or her, own vegetable garden. The 
days of home weaving, home cheese-making, home 
meat-packing, are gone. With a thousand and one 
other things that used to be made or done at home, 
they have left the fireside and followed the factory 
chimney. These things could be turned over to 
machinery. The growing of vegetables cannot be 
so disposed of. Garden tools have been improved, 
but they are still the same old one-man affairs — 
doing one thing, one row at a time. Labor is still 
the big factor — and that, taken in combination 
with the cost of transporting and handling such 
perishable stufif as garden produce, explains why 
the home gardener can grow his own vegetables at 
less expense than he can buy them. That is a good 
fact to remember. 

But after all, I doubt if most of us will look at 
the matter only after consulting the columns of the 

(6) 



Why You Should Garden 7 



household ledger. The big thing, the salient fea- 
ture of home gardening is not that we may get our 
vegetables ten per cent, cheaper, but that we can have 
them one hundred per cent, better. Even the long- 
keeping sorts, like squash, potatoes and onions, are 
very perceptibly more delicious right from the home 
garden, fresh from the vines or the ground; but 
when it comes to peas, and corn, and lettuce, — well, 
there is absolutely nothing to compare w^ith the home 
garden ones, gathered fresh, in the early slanting 
sunlight, still gemmed with dew, still crisp and ten- 
der and juicy, ready to carry every atom of savory 
quality, without loss, to the dining table. Stale, flat 
and unprofitable indeed, after these have once been 
tasted, seem the limp, travel-weary, dusty things 
that are jounced around to us in the butcher's cart 
and the grocery wagon. It is not in price alone that 
home gardening pays. There is another point: the 
market gardener has to grow the things that give 
the biggest yield. He has to sacrifice quality to 
quantity. You do not. One cannot buy Golden Ban- 
tam corn, or Mignonette lettuce, or Gradus peas in 
most markets. They are top quality, but they do not 
fill the market crate enough times to the row to 
pay the commercial grower. If you cannot afford 
to keep a professional gardener there is only one 
way to have the best vegetables — grow your own ! 
And this brings us to the third, and what may be 



8 Home Vegetable Gardening 



the most important reason why you should garden. 
It is the cheapest, healthiest, keenest pleasure there 
is. Give me a sunny garden patch in the golden 
springtime, when the trees are picking out their new 
gowns, in all the various self-colored delicate grays 
and greens — strange how beautiful they are, in the 
same old unchanging styles, isn't it ? — give me seeds 
to watch as they find the light, plants to tend as they 
take hold in the fine, loose, rich soil, and you may 
have the other sports. And when you have grown 
tired of their monotony, come back in summer to 
even the smallest garden, and you will find in it, 
every day, a new problem to be solved, a new cam- 
paign to be carried out, a new victory to w^in. 

Better food, better health, better living — all these 
the home garden ofifers you in abundance. And the 
price is only the price of every worth-while thing — 
honest, cheerful patient work. 

But enough for now of the dream garden. Put 
down your book. Put on your old togs, light your 
pipe — some kind-hearted humanitarian should de- 
vise for women such a kindly and comforting vice 
as smoking — and let's go outdoors and look the 
place over, and pick out the best spot for that gar- 
den-patch of yours. 



Chapter III 



REQUISITES OF THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN 

IN deciding upon the site for the home vegetable 
garden it is well to dispose once and for all of 
the old idea that the garden ''patch" must be 
an ugly spot in the home surroundings. If thought- 
fully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly 
cared for, it may be made a beautiful and harmo- 
nious feature of the general scheme, lending a touch 
of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, borders, 
or beds can ever produce. 

With this fact in mind we will not feel restricted 
to any part of the premises merely because it is out 
of sight behind the barn or garage. In the average 
moderate-sized place there will not be much choice 
as to land. It will be necessary to take what is to 
be had and then do the very best that can be done 
with it. But there will probably be a good deal of 
choice as to, first, exposure, and second, convenience. 
Other things being equal, select a spot near at hand, 
easy of access. It may seem that a difference of 
only a few hundred yards will mean nothing, but if 

(9) 



lo Home Vegetable Gardening 



one is depending largely upon spare moments for 
working in and for watching the garden — and in 
the growing of many vegetables the latter is almost 
as important as the former — this matter of conven- 
ient access will be of much greater importance than 
is likely to be at first recognized. Not until you 
have had to make a dozen tim.e-wasting trips for 
forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking 
wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, 
will you realize fully what this may mean. 

EXPOSURE 

But the thing of first importance to consider in 
picking out the spot that is to yield you happiness 
and delicious vegetables all summer, or even for 
many years, is the exposure. Pick out the ''earliest" 
spot you can find — a plot sloping a little to the south 
or east, that seems to catch sunshine early and hold 
it late, and that seems to be out of the direct path 
of the chilling north and northeast winds. If a build- 
ing, or even an old fence, protects it from this direc- 
tion, your garden will be helped along wonderfully, 
for an early start is a great big factor toward suc- 
cess. If it is not already protected, a board fence, 
or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young 
evergreens, will add very greatly to its usefulness. 
The imiportance of having such a protection or shel- 
ter is altogether underestimated by the amateur. 



Requisites 



II 



THE SOIL 

The chances are that you will not find a spot of 
ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere upon your 
place. But all except the very worst of soils can be 
brought up to a very high degree of productiveness 
— especially such small areas as home vegetable gar- 
dens require. Large tracts of soil that are almost 
pure sand, and others so heavy and mucky that for 
centuries they lay uncultivated, have frequently been 
brought, in the course of only a few years, to where 
they yield annually tremendous crops on a commer- 
cial basis. So do not be discouraged about your 
soil. Proper treatment of it is much more import- 
ant, and a garden-patch of average run-down, — or 
"never-brought-up" soil — will produce much more 
for the energetic and careful gardener than the rich- 
est spot will grow under average methods of culti- 
vation. 

The ideal garden soil is a "rich, sandy loam." And 
the fact cannot be overemphasized that such soils 
usually are made, not found. Let us analyze that de- 
scription a bit, for right here we come to the first 
of the four all-important factors of gardening — food. 
The others are cultivation, moisture and tempera- 
ture. "Rich" in the gardener's vocabulary means 
full of plant food ; more than that — and this is a 
point of vital importance — it means full of plant 
food ready to be used at once, all prepared and spread 



12 Home Vegetable Gardening 

out on the garden table, or rather in it, where grow- 
ing things can at once make use of it; or what we 
term, in one word, '"available" plant food. Practi- 
cally no soils in long-inhabited communities remain 
naturally rich enough to produce big crops. They 
are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by 
cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant 
food stored in the soil into available forms ; and sec- 
ond, by manuring or adding plant food to the soil 
from outside sources. 

"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil con- 
taining enough particles of sand so that water will 
pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky 
a few days after a rain; "light" enough, as it is 
called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, 
will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed 
in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be 
sandy in appearance, but it should be friable. 

"Loam : a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That 
hardly covers it, but it does describe it. It is soil in 
which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, 
so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark 
in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a 
soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks 
as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how 
quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of 
well cultivated ground will change. An instance 
came under my notice last fall in one of my fields. 



Requisites 



13 



where a strip containing an acre had been two years 
in onions, and a httle piece jutting off from the mid- 
dle of this had been prepared for them just one sea- 
son. The rest had not received any extra manuring 
or cultivation. When the field was plowed up in the 
fall, all three sections were as distinctly noticeable 
as though separated by a fence. And I know that 
next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under, 
will show the lines of demarcation just as plainly. 

This, then, will give you an idea of a good garden' 
soil. Perhaps in yours there will be too much sand, 
or too much clay. That will be a disadvantage, but 
one which energy and perseverance will soon over- 
come to a great extent — ^by what methods may be 
learned in Chapter VIII. 

DRAINAGE 

There is, however, one other thing you must look 
out for in selecting your garden site, and that is 
drainage. Dig down eight or twelve inches after 
you have picked out a favorable spot, and examine 
the sub-soil. This is the second strata, usually of 
different texture and color from the rich surface 
soil, and harder than it. If you find a sandy or grav- 
elly bed, no matter how yellow and poor it looks, you 
have chosen the right spot. But if it be a stiff, heavy 
clay, especially a blue clay, you will have either to 
drain it or be content with a very late garden — that 



14 Home Vegetable Gardening 

is, unless you are at the top of a knoll or on a slope. 
Chapter VII contains further suggestions in regard 
to this problem. 

SOIL ANTECEDENTS 

There was a further reason for mentioning that 
strip of onion ground. It is a very practical illus- 
tration of what last year's handling of the soil means 
to this year's garden. If you can pick out a spot, 
even if it is not the most desirable in other ways, that 
has been well enriched or cultivated for a year or 
two previous, take that for this year's garden. And 
in the meantime have the spot on which you intend 
to make your permanent vegetable garden thor- 
oughly "fitted," and grow there this year a crop of 
potatoes or sweet corn, as suggested in Chapter IX. 
Then next year you will have conditions just right 
to give your vegetables a great start. 

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 

There are other things of minor importance but 
worth considering, such as the shape of your garden 
plot, for instance. The more nearly rectangular, 
the more convenient it will be to work and the more 
easily kept clean and neat. Have it large enough, 
or at least open on two ends, so that a horse can be 
used in plowing and harrowing. And if by any 
means you can have it within reach of an adequate 
supply of water, that will be a tremendous help in 



Requisites 



15 



seasons of protracted drought. Then again, if you 
have ground enough, lay off two plots so that you 
can take advantage of the practice of rotation, al- 
ternating grass, potatoes or corn with the vegetable 
garden. Of course it is possible to practice crop 
rotation (see page 106) to some extent within the 
limits of even the small vegetable garden, but it will 
be much better, if possible, to rotate the entire gar- 
den-patch. 

All these things, then, one has to keep in mind 
in picking the spot best suited for the home vege- 
table garden. It should be, if possible, of conven- 
ient access ; it should have a warm exposure and be 
well enriched, well worked-up soil, not too light nor 
too heavy, and by all means well drained. If it has 
been thoroughly cultivated for a year or two pre- 
vious, so much the better. If it is near a supply of 
water, so situated that it can be at least plowed and 
harrowed with a horse, and large enough to allow 
the garden proper to be shifted every other year or 
two, still more the better. 

Fill all of these requirements that you can, and 
then by taking full advantage of the advantages you 
have, you can discount the disadvantages. After all 
it is careful, persistent work, more than natural ad- 
vantages, that will tell the story ; and a good garden 
does not grow — it is made. 



Chapter IV 

THE PLANTING PLAN 

HAVING selected the garden spot, the next 
consideration, naturally, is what shall be 
planted in it. 
The old way was to get a few seed catalogues, 
pick out a list of the vegetables most enthusias- 
tically described by the (wholly disinterested) seeds- 
man, and then, when the time came, to put them in 
at one or two plantings, and sowing each kind as 
far as the seed would go. There is a better way — a 
way to make the garden produce more, to yield 
things when you want them, and in the proper pro- 
portions. 

All these advantages, you may suppose, must mean 
more work. On the contrary, however, the new way 
makes very much less work and makes results a hun- 
dred per cent, more certain. It is not necessary even 
that more thought be put upon the garden, but fore- 
thought there must be. Forethought, however, is 
much more satisfactory than hind-thought. 

In the new way of gardening there are four great 

(i6) 



Plan 



17 



helps, four things that will be of great assistance to 
the experienced gardener, and that are indispensable 
to the success of the beginner. They are the Plant- 
ing Plan, the Planting Table, the Check List and 
the Garden Record. 

Do not become discouraged at the formidable 
sound of that paragraph and decide that after all 
you do not want to fuss so much over your garden ; 
that you are doing it for the fun of the thing any- 
way, and such intricate systems will not be worth 
bothering with. The purpose of those four garden 
helps is simply to make your work less and your re- 
turns more. You might just as well refuse to use 
a wheel hoe because the trowel was good enough for 
your grandmother's garden, as to refuse to take ad- 
vantage of the modern garden methods described in 
this chapter. Without using them to some extent, 
or in some modified form, you can never know just 
what you are doing with your garden or what im- 
provements to make next year. Of course, each of 
the plans or lists suggested here is only one of many 
possible combinations. You should be able to find, 
or better still to construct, similar ones better suited 
to your individual taste, need and opportunity. That, 
however, does not lessen the necessity of using some 
such system. It is just as necessary an aid to the 
maximum efficiency in gardening as are modern 
tools. Do not fear that you will waste time on the 
2 



i8 Home Vegetable Gardening 

planting plan. Master it and use it, for only so can 
you make your garden time count for most in pro- 
ducing results. In the average small garden there 
is a very large percentage of waste — for two weeks, 
more string beans than can be eaten or given away ; 
and then, for a month, none at all, for instance. You 
should determine ahead as nearly as possible how 
much of each vegetable your table will require and 
then try to grow enough of each for a continuous 
supply, and no more. It is just this that the planting 
plan enables you to do. 

I shall describe, as briefly as possible, forms of 
the planting plan, planting table, check list and rec- 
ord, which I have found it convenient to use. 

To make the Planting Plan take a sheet of white 
paper and a ruler and mark off a space the shape of 
your garden — which should be rectangular if pos- 
sible — using a scale of one-quarter or one-eighth 
inch to the foot. Rows fifty feet long will be found 
a convenient length for the average home garden. 
In a garden where many varieties of things are 
grown it will be best to run the rows the short way 
of the piece. We will take a fifty-foot row for the 
purpose of illustration, though of course it can read- 
ily be changed in proportion where rows of that 
length can not conveniently be made. In a very 
small garden it will be better to make the row, say, 
twenty-five feet long, the aim being always to keep 



Plan 



19 



the row a unit and have as few broken ones as pos- 
sible, and still not to have to plant more of any one 
thing than will be needed. 

In assigning space for the various vegetables sev- 
eral things should be kept in mind in order to facili- 
tate planting, replanting and cultivating the garden. 
These can most quickly be realized by a glance at 
the plan illustrated herewith. You will notice that 
crops that remain several years — rhubarb and as- 
paragus — are kept at one end. Next come such as 
will remain a whole season — parsnips, carrots, 
onions and the like. And finally those that will be 
used for a succession of crops — peas, lettuce, spinach. 
Moreover, tall-growing crops, like pole beans, are 
kept to the north of lower ones. In the plan illus- 
trated the space given to each variety is allotted ac- 
cording to the proportion in which they are ordina- 
rily used. If it happens that you have a special weak- 
ness for peas, or your mother-in-law an aversion to 
peppers, keep these tastes and similar ones in mind 
when laying out your planting plan. 

Do not leave the planning of your garden until 
you are ready to put the seeds in the ground and then 
do it all in a rush. Do it in January, as soon as you 
have received the new year's catalogues and when 
you have time to study over th^m and look up your 
record of the previous year. Every hour spent on 
the plan will mean several hours saved in the garden. 



20 Home Vegetable Gardening 



KHUE>AKE>-Z 



40 45 SO 



POLt DEA^5-Z 



TOMATOt^-1 



CAU LI rLOWirR, EARLY- 1 



•PROCOLLI- 1 



EGG-PLAKT-l 



CE,LI:R-r-l 



onions- 54 
L&E:K5'- 2 



CAKROT5'-4 



^EET^-4 



CORM-4 



^Ui^H BEAMS -3 



LIrTTUCEr-2 



WINTER 5'QUA5H-5H. 



CUCUMDER5-T Hills. 



WAT£RM£rLOn5- 5H. 



SUMMER 5QJA5H,11ME- 5H 



A typical Planting Plan. The scale 
measurements at the left and top indi- 
cate the length and distance apart of 
rows. 



The Planting 
Table is the next 
important sys- 
tem in the busi- 
ness of garden- 
i n g, especially 
for the begin- 
ner. In it one 
can see at a 
glance all the 
details of the 
particular treat- 
ment each vege- 
table requires — 
whefi to sow, 
how: deep, how 
far ; apart the 
rows should be, 
etc. |I remember 
how many trips 
fromi garden to 
house to hunt 
through cata- 
logues for just 
such informa- 
tion I made in 
my first two 
seasons' gar- 



Plan 



21 



dening. How much time, just at the very busiest 
season of the whole year, such a table would have 
saved ! 

The Planting Table prepared for one's own use 
should show, besides the information given, the 
varieties of each vegetable which experience has 
proved best adapted to one's own needs. The table 
shown herewith gives such a list ; varieties which are 
for the most part standard favorites and all of which, 
with me, have proven reliable, productive and of 
good quality. Other good sorts will be found de- 
scribed in Part Two, pages 141 to 157. Such a table 
should be mounted on cardboard and kept where it 
may readily be referred to at planting time. 

The Check List is the counterpart of the planting 
table, so arranged that its use will prevent anything 
from being overlooked or left until too late. Prepare 
it ahead, some time in January, when you have time 
to think of everything. Make it up from your 
planting table and from the previous year's record. 
From this list (see page 23) it will be well to put 
down on a sheet of paper the things to be done each 
month (or week) and cross them off as they are at- 
tended to. Without some such system it is almost 
a certainty that you will overlook some important 
things. 

The Garden Record is no less important. It may 
be kept in the simplest sort of way, but be sure to 



22 Home Vegetable Gardening 



keep it. A large piece of paper ruled as follows, for 
instance, will require only a few minutes' attention 
each week and yet will prove of the greatest assist- 
ance in planning the garden next season. 



VEGETABLE GARDEN RECORD I9IO 



Variety 



Red Valentine. . . 

Golden Wax . . . . 
Old Homestead., 
Early Leviathan 

Fordhook 

Egyptian 

Eclipse 

\Y akefield 



Put in Ready 



May 10 

May 15 
May 16 
May 25 
May 15 
Apr. 10 
Apr. 10 
Apr. 9 



July 6 

July 22 
July 2 6 
Aug. 19 



June 12 
June 14 
Jtine 20 



Notes 



Not best quality. Try 
other earlies 

Rusted. Spray next year 

Too many. 6 poles next year 

Good. Dry. 

Rotted. Try May 25 

Roots sprangled 

Better quality 

Injured by worms. Helle- 
bore next year 



The above shows how such a record will be kept. 
Of course, only the first column is written in ahead. 
I want to emphasize in passing, however, the impor- 
tance of putting down your data on the day you 
plant, or harvest, or notice anything worth recording. 
If you let it go until tomorrow it is very apt to be 
lacking next year. 

Try these four short-cuts to success, even if you 
have had a garden before. They will make a big 
difference in your garden ; less work and greater re- 
sults. 



Plan 



23 



CHECK LIST 

Jan. 1st — Send for catalogues. Make planting 
plan and table. Order seeds. 

Feb. 1st — Inside: cabbage, cauliflower, first sowing. 
Onions for plants. 

Feb. 15th — Inside: lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, 
Brussels sprouts, beets. 

March ist — Inside: lettuce, celery, tomato (early). 

March 15th — Inside: lettuce, tomato (main), egg- 
plant, pepper, lima beans, cucumber, squash; 
sprout potatoes in sand. 

April 1st — Inside: cauliflower (on sods), musk- 
melon, watermelon, corn. 

Outside: (seed-bed) celery, cabbage, lettuce. 
Onions, carrots, smooth peas, spinach, beets, 
chard, parsnip, turnip, radish. Lettuce, cabbage 
(plants). 

May I St — Beans, corn, spinach, lettuce, radish. 

May 15th — Beans, limas, muskmelon, watermelon, 
summer squash, peas, potatoes, lettuce, radish, 
tomato (early), corn, limas, melon, cucumber and 
squash (plants). Pole-lima, beets, corn, kale, 
winter squash, pumpkin, lettuce, radish. 

June I St — Beans, carrots, corn, cucumber, peas, sum- 
mer spinach, summer lettuce, radish, egg-plant, 
pepper, tomato (main plants). 

June 15th — Beans, corn, peas, turnip, summer let- 
tuce, radish, late cabbage, and tomato plants. 



24 Home Vegetable Gardening 



July 1st — Beans, endive, kale, lettuce, radish, winter 
cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and celery 
plants. 

July 15th — Beans, early corn, early peas, lettuce, 
radish. 

Aug. 1st — Early peas, lettuce, radish. 

Aug. 15th — Early peas, lettuce, radish in seed-bed, 

forcing lettuce for fall in frames. 
Sept. 1st — Lettuce, radish, spinach and onions for 

wintering over. 

Note. — This list is for planting only (the dates are approxi- 
mate : see note i at head of page 29). Spraying and other 
garden operations may also be included in such a list. See 
"Calendar of Operations" at end of book. 



Plan 



25 



PLANTING TABLE 



VEGETABLB 



DEPTH TO 
SOW INS. 



DISTANCE APART 



SEEDS^ 



I. CROPS REMAirJiNG ENTIRE SEASON 



Asparagus, seed. . , 
Asparagus, plants. 

Bean, pole 

Bean, lima 

Beet, late 

Carrot, late 

Com, late 

Cucumber 

Egg-plant, plants 

Leek 

Melon, musk 

Melon, water. . . . 

Onion 

Okra 

Parsley* 

Parsnip 

Pepper, seed 

Pepper, plants. . . , 
Potatoes, main. . . 

Pumpkins 

Rhubarb, plants.. 

Salsify 

Squash, summer. . 
Squash, winter.... 
Tomato, seed. . . . 
Tomato, plants.. . 





I 


2-4 in. 


15 in. 




4 


I ft. 


3 ft. 


May 15-Jtme 10. . . 


2 


3 ft. 


3 ft. 


May 20-Jxine 10. . . 


2 


3 ft. 


3 ft. 


April- August 


2 


3-4 in. 


15 in. 


May-July 


i-i 


2-3 in. 


IS in. 


May 20-July 10. . . 


2 


3 ft. 


4 ft. 


May lo-July 15.. . 


I 


4 ft. 


4 ft. 


June 1-20 




2 ft. 


30 in. 


April 




2-4 in 


15 in. 


May is-June 15... 


I 


4 ft. 


4 ft. 


May is-June 15 . 


I 


6-8 ft. 


6-8 ft. 


April 


i-i 


2-4 in. 


15 in. 


May 1 5- June 15... 


i I 


2 ft. 


3 ft. 


April-May 


i 


4-6 in. 


I ft. 


April 




3-5 in. 


18 in. 




i 


3-6 in. 


IS in. 


June 1-20 




2 ft. 


30 in. 


April is-June 20... 


4-6 


13 in. 


30 in. 


May I -June 20... . 


1-2 


6-8 ft. 


6-8 ft. 


April 




2-3 ft. 


3 ft. 




I 


3-6 in. 


18 in. 


May is-July i.. . . 


1-2 


4 ft. 


4 ft. 


May 15-June 20.. . 


1-2 


6-8 ft. 


6-8 ft. 


June 


i 


3-4 in. 


15 in. 


May is-July 20... 




3 ft. 


3 ft. 



Note, — The index reference numbers refer to notes on 
page 29. 



26 Home Vegetable Gardening 





SEED FOR 




VEGETABLE 


50 FT. 


VARIETIES 




ROW 




Asparagus, seed... . 


I OZ. 


Palmetto, Giant Argenteuil. Barr's Mammoth 


Asparagus, plants. 




Palm.etto, Giant Argenteuil, Barr's Mammoth 




Ipt. 


Kentucky- Wonder. Golden, Cluster, Bxirger's 






Stringless 




ipt. 


Early Leviathan, Giant Podded, Burpee 






Improved 


Beet, late 


I oz. 


Crimson Globe 


Carrot, late 


+ oz. 


Danver's Half-long, Ox-heart, Chantenay 




ipt. 


Se\-mour"s Sweet Orange, White Evergreen. 






CoucLtry Gentlem^an 


Cucumber 


i oz. 


Earl 3- White Spine, Fordhook Famo\is, Da\'is 






Perfect 


Egg-plant, plants. 


25 


Black Beauty, N. Y. Purple 


Leek 


i oz. 


American Flag 




i oz. 


Netted Gem. Emerald Gem, Hoodoo 




i oz. 


Cole's Early, Sweetheart, Halbert Honey 


Onion 


1 oz. 


Prizetaker, Danver's Globe, Ailsa Craig. 






Southport Red Globe, Mammoth Silver- 






skin (white) 


Okra 


i oz. 


Perfected Perkins, White Velvet 


Parsley 


i oz. 


Emerald 


Parsnip 


2 OZ. 


Hollow Crowned (Improved) 


Pepper, seed 


i oz. 


Ruby King, Chinese Giant 


Pepper, plants 


25 


Ruby ICing. Chinese Giant 


Potatoes, main.. .. 


ipk. 


Irish Cobbler, Green Mountain, Uncle Sam 






(Xoroton Beauty, Xorwood, early) 


Pvmipkins 


i oz. 


Large Cheese, Quaker Pie 


Rhubarb, plants. . 


25 


Myatt's Victoria 


Salsifv 


1 oz. 


Mammoth Sandwich 


Squash, summer.. . 


i oz. 


White Bush, DeHcata, Fordhook, Vegetable 






Marrow 


Squasli, vrinter. . . . 


i oz. 


Hubbard, DeHcious 


Tomato, seed 


i oz. 


Earliana, Chalk's Jewel, Matchless, Dwarf 






Giant 


Tomato, plants.. . . 


20 


Earliana, Chalk's Jewel. Matchless. Dwarf 






Giant 



Plan 



27 





planti 


DEPTH TO 


DISTANCE APART 


VEGETABLE 


SOW INS. 


SEEDS^ j ROWS 



II. CROPS FOR SUCCESSION PLANTINGS 



Bean, dwarf 


May s-Aug. 15... . 


3 


Kohlrabi^ 


April- July 


i-i 


Lettuce** 


April-August 


i 




April I -Aug. I.. . . 


2-3 


Peas, wrinkled. . . . 


April 10- July 15 . . 


2-3 


Radish 


April I -Sept i . . . . 


i 


Spinach 


April-Sept 15 


I 




April-Sept 


i-i 



2-4 m. 
6-12 in. 
I ft. 
2-4 in. 
2-4 in. 

2- 3 in. 

3- 5 in. 

4- 6 in. 



li-2 ft. 
1 1-2 ft. 
I-lift. 

3 ft. 
3-4 ft. 
I ft. 
18 in. 
15 in. 



III. 

Beet, early 

Broccoli, early*.. . . 

Borecole* 

Brussels sprouts*... 

Cabbage, early* 

Carrot 

Cauliflower* 

Com, early 

Onion sets 

Peas 

Crops in Sec. II. 



CROPS TO BE FOLLOWED BY OTHERS 

April- June 

April 



April 

April 

April 

April 

April . . . . 

May 10-20. . . 
April-May 15. 
April I -May i 



i-i 

i-i 
i-i 
i-i 
2 

1-2 

a 



3-4 m. 
li ft. 

2 ft. 
li ft. 
lift. 
2-3 in. 
li ft. 

3 ft. 
2-4 in. 
2-4 in. 



IS m. 
2 ft. 
2* ft. 
2 ft. 
2 ft. 
15 in. 

2 ft. 
3-4 ft. 
IS in. 

3 ft. 



IV. CROPS THAT MAY FOLLOW OTHERS 



Beet, late 

Borecole 

Broccoli 

Brussels sprouts.. 
Cabbage late .... 

Cauliflower 

Celery, seed 

Celery, plant.. . , . 

Endive* 

Peas, late 

Crops in Sec. II. 



July-August.. . 
May-June^. . . . 
May-Jtme2. . . . 
May-J-une^. . . . 
May- June-. . . . 
May-June^. . . . 

April 

July I -Aug. I.. 
April- August. . 
May is-Aug. i. 



2 


3-4 in. 


15 in 


i-1 


2 ft. 


2i ft. 




2 ft. 


21 ft. 


i-l 


li ft. 


2i{t. 


i-1 


2i ft. 


2lft. 


i-l 


2 ft. 


2i ft. 


i 


1-2 in. 


I ft. 




6 in. 


3-4 ft. 


i 


I ft. 


I ft. 


2-3 


2-4 in. 


4 ft. 



28 Home Vegetable Gardening 





SEED FOR 




VEGETABLB 


50 FT. 


VARIETIES 




ROW 





Bean, dwarf. 



II. CROPS FOR SUCCESSION PLANTINGS 
pt 



Kohlrabi. 
Lettuce. 



Peas, smooth. . 
Peas, wrinkled. 

Radish 

Spinach 

Turnip 



J oz. 

50 



I pt. 
I pt. 
i- oz. 
i oz. 
i oz. 



Red Valentine, Burpee's Greenpod, Improved 
Refugee, Brittle Wax, Rust-proof Golden 
Wax, Burpee's White Wax 
White Vienna 

Mignonette, Grand Rapids, May King, Big 
Boston, New York, Deacon, Cos, Paris 
White 

American Wonder 

Gradus, Boston Unrivaled, Quite Content 
Rapid Red, Crimson Globe, Chinese 
Swiss Chard Beet, Long Season, Victoria 
White Milan, Petrowski, Golden Ball 



III. CROPS TO BE FOLLOWED BY OTHERS 



Beet, early 

Broccoli, early. . . 

Borecole 

Brussels sprouts. 
Cabbage, early . . 



Carrot 

Cauliflower. 



Com, early. . . . 

Onion sets 

Peas 

Crops in Sec. II. 



I oz. 

35 
25 
35 
35 

i oz. 

35 

1 pt. 

2 pt. 
I pt. 



Edmtmd s Early, Early Model 
Early White French 
Dwarf Scotch Cxarled 
Dalkeith, Danish Prize 

Wakefield, Glory of Enkhuisen, Early Sum- 
mer, Succession, Savoy 

Golden Ball, Early Scarlet Horn 

Burpee's Best Early, Snowball, Sea-foam 
Dry Weather 

Golden Bantam, Peep o' Day, Cory 



Beet, late 


I oz. 




25 




25 


Brussels sprouts. . 


35 




25 




25 


Celery, seed 


I oz. 




100 




i oz. 




I pt. 


Crops in Sec. II. 





IV. CROPS TPIAT MAY FOLLOW OTHERS 

Crimson Globe 
Dwarf Scotch Curled 
Early White French 
Dalkeith, Danish Prize 

Succession, Danish Ballhead Drumhead 
As above. [Savoy, Mammoth Rock (red) 

White Pltmie, Golden Self -blanching. Winter 
Queen 

White Plume, Golden Self -blanching. Winter 
Queen 

Broad-Leaved Batavian, Giant Fringed 
Gradus 



Plan 



29 



REFERENCE NOTES FROM THE TABLES 

>In the vicinity of New York City. Each 100 miles north or south will 
make a difference of 5 to 7 days later or earlier. 

2This is for sowing the seed. It will take three to six weeks before 
plants are ready. Hence the advantage of using the seed-bed. For instance, 
you can start your late cabbage about June 1 5th, to follow the first crop of 
peas, which shovild be cleared off by the loth of July. 

'Distances given are those at which the growing plants should stand, 
after thinning. Seed in drills should be sown several times as thick. 

•Best started in seed-bed, and afterward transplanted ; but may be 
sown where wanted and afterward thinned to the best plants. 



Chapter V 



IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES 

IT may seem to the reader that it is all very well 
to make a garden with a pencil, but that the 
work of transferring it to the soil must be 
quite another problem and one entailing so much 
work that he will leave it to the professional market 
gardener. He possibly pictures to himself some 
bent-kneed and stoop-shouldered man with the hoe, 
and decides that after all there is too much work 
in the garden game. What a revelation would be 
in store for him if he could witness one day's opera- 
tions in a modern market garden! Very likely 
indeed not a hoe would be seen during the entire 
visit. Modern implements, within less than a gen- 
eration, have revolutionized gardening. 

This is true of the small garden as certainly as of 
the large one : in fact, in proportion I am not sure 
but that it is more so — because of the second won- 
derful thing about modern garden tools, that is, the 
low prices at which they can be bought, considering 
the enormous percentage of labor saved in accom- 

(30) 



Implements 



31 



plishing results. There is nothing in the way of 
expense to prevent even the most modest gardener 
acquiring, during a few years, by the judicious ex- 
penditure of but a few dollars annually, a very com- 
plete outfit of tools that will handsomely repay their 
cost. 

While some garden tools have been improved and 
developed out of all resemblance to their original 
forms, others have changed little in generations, and 
in probability will remain ever with us. There is a 
thing or two to say about even the simplest of them, 
however, — especially to anyone not familiar with 
their uses. 

There are tools for use in every phase of horticul- 
tural operations; for preparing the ground, for 
planting the seed, for cultivation, for protecting 
crops from insects and disease, and for harvesting. 

First of all comes the ancient and honorable spade, 
which, for small garden plots, borders, beds, etc., 
must still be relied upon for the initial operation in 
gardening — ^breaking up the soil. There are several 
types, but any will answer the purpose. In buying 
a spade look out for two things : see that it is well 
strapped up the handle in front and back, and that it 
hangs well. In spading up ground, especially soil 
that is turfy or hard, the work may be made easier 
by taking a strip not quite twice as wide as the 
spade, and making diagonal cuts so that one vertical 



32 Home Vegetable Gardening 



edge of the spade at each thrust cuts clean out to 
where the soil has already been dug. The wide-tined 
spading-fork is frequently used instead of the spade, 
as it is lighter and can be more advantageously used 
to break up lumps and level off surfaces. In most 
soils it will do this work as well, if not better, than 
the spade and has the further good quality of being 
serviceable as a fork too, thus combining two tools 
in one. It should be more generally known and 
used. With the ordinary fork, used for handling 
manure and gathering up trash, weeds, etc., every 
gardener is familiar. The type with oval, slightly 
up-curved tines, five or six in number, and a D 
handle, is the most convenient and comfortable for 
garden use. 

For areas large enough for a horse to turn around 
in, use a plow. There are many good makes. The 
swivel type has the advantage of turning all the fur- 
rows one way, and is the best for small plots and 
sloping ground. It should turn a clean, deep furrow. 
In deep soil that has long been cultivated, plowing 
should, with few exceptions, be down at least to the 
subsoil ; and if the soil is shallow it will be advisable 
to turn up a little of the subsoil, at each plowing — 
not more than an inch — in order that the soil may 
gradually be deepened. In plowing sod it will be 
well to have the plow fitted with a coulter, which 
turns a miniature furrow ahead of the plowshare, 



Select a bow-head rake rather than one in which 
the teeth-bar is fastened directly to the shaft. 
At the right is the useful prong-hoe 




Four types of hoe ; from the left, the scuffle- 
hoe, the heart-shaped hoe, the short hoe, 
and the common hoe 




A barrel-pump suital)le for spraying on a larger 
scale — useful in the home orchard 



Implements 



33 



thus covering under all sods and grass and getting 
them out of the way of harrows and other tools 
to be used later. In plowing under tall-growing 
green manures, like rye, a heavy chain is hung from 
the evener to the handle, thus pulling the crop down 
into the furrow so that it will all be covered under. 
Where drainage is poor it will be well to break up 
the subsoil with a subsoil plow, which follows in 
the wake of the regular plow but does not lift the 
subsoil to the surface. 

TOOLS FOR PREPARING THE SEED-BED 

The spade or spading-fork will be followed by 
the hoe, or hook, and the iron rake; and the plow 
by one or more of the various types of harrow. The 
best type of hoe for use after the spade is the wide, 
deep-bladed type. In most soils, however, this work 
may be done more expeditiously with the hook or 
prong-hoe (see illustration). With this the soil can 
be thoroughly pulverized to a depth of several inches. 
In using either, be careful not to pull up manure or 
trash turned under by the spade, as all such mate- 
rial if left covered will quickly rot away in the soil 
and furnish the best sort of plant food. I should 
think that our energetic manufactures would make 
a prong-hoe with heavy wide blades, like those of 
the spading-fork, but I have never seen such an 
implement, either in use or advertised. 

3 



34 Home Vegetable Gardening 

What the prong-hoe is to the spade, the harrow- 
is to the plow. For general purposes the Acme is 
an excellent harrow. It is adjustable, and for 
ground at all mellow will be the only one necessary ; 
set it, for the first time over, to cut in deep; and 
then, set for leveling, it will leave the soil in such 
excellent condition that a light hand-raking (or, for 
large areas, the Meeker smoothing-harrow) will pre- 
pare it for the finest of seeds, such as onions and 
carrots. The teeth of the Acme are so designed that 
they practically constitute a gang of miniature 
plows. Of disc harrows there are a great many 
makes. The salient feature of the disc type is that 
they can tear up no manure, grass or trash, even 
when these are but partly turned under by the plow. 
For this reason it is especially useful on sod or other 
rough ground. The most convenient harrow for 
putting on the finishing touches, for leveling off and 
fining the surface of the soil, is the lever spike-tooth. 
It is adjustable and can be used as a spike-tooth or 
as a smoothing harrow. 

Any of the harrows mentioned above (except the 
Meeker) and likewise the prong-hoe, will have to be 
followed by the iron rake when preparing the 
ground for small-seeded garden vegetables. Get the 
sort with what is termed the "bow" head (see illus- 
tration) instead of one in which the head is fastened 
directly to the end of the handle. It is less likely 



Implements 



35 



to get broken, and easier to use. There is quite a 
knack in manipulating even a garden rake, which 
will come only with practice. Do not rake as though 
you were gathering up leaves or grass. The secret 
in using the garden rake is not to gather things up. 
Small stones, lumps of earth and such things, you 
of course wish to remove. Keep these raked off 
ahead of where you are leveling the soil, which is 
accomplished v/ith a backward-and-forward move- 
ment of the rake. 

The tool-house of every garden of any size should 
contain a seed-drill. Labor which is otherwise te- 
dious and difficult is by it rendered mere play — as 
well as being better done. The operations of mark- 
ing the row, opening the furrow, dropping the seed 
at the proper depth and distance, covering imme- 
diately with fresh earth, and firming the soil, are all 
done at one fell swoop and as fast as you can walk. 
It will even drop seeds in hills. But that is not all : 
it may be had as part of a combination machine, 
w^hich, after your seeds are planted — with each row 
neatly rolled on top, and plainly visible — may be at 
once transformed into a wheel hoe that will save 
you as much time in caring for your plants as the 
seed-drill did in planting your seed. Hoeing 
drudger}^ becomes a thing of the past. The illustra- 
tion herewith shows such a machine, and some of 
the varied attachments which may be had for it. 



36 Home Vegetable Gardening 

There are so many, and so varied in usefulness, that 
it would require an entire chapter to detail their 
special advantages and methods of use. The cata- 
logues describing them will give you many valuable 
suggestions; and other ways of utilizing them will 
discover themselves to you in your work. 

Valuable as the wheel hoe is, however, and varied 
in its scope of work, the time-tried hoe cannot be 
entirely dispensed with. An accompanying photo- 
graph (facing p. 28) shows four distinct types, all 
of which will pay for themselves in a garden of mod- 
erate size. The one on the right is the one most 
generally seen; next to it is a modified form which 
personally I prefer for all light work, such as 
loosening soil and cutting out weeds. It is lighter 
and smaller, quicker and easier to handle. Next to 
this is the Warren, or heart-shaped hoe, especially 
valuable in opening and covering drills for seed, 
such as beans, peas or corn. The scuffle-hoe, or 
scarifier, which completes the four, is used between 
narrow rows for shallow work, such as cutting off 
small weeds and breaking up the crust. It has been 
rendered less frequently needed by the advent of 
the wheel hoe, but when crops are too large to admit 
of the use of the latter, the scuffle-hoe is still an 
indispensable time-saver. 

There remains one task connected with gardening 
that is a bug-bear. That is hand-weeding. To get 



Implements 



37 



down on one's hands and knees, in the blistering hot 
dusty soil, with the perspiration trickling down into 
one's eyes, and pick small weedlets from among ten- 
der plantlets, is not a pleasant occupation. There 
are, however, several sorts of small weeders which 
lessen the work considerably. One or another of the 
common types will seem preferable, according to 
different conditions of soil and methods of work. 
Personally, I prefer the Lang's for most uses (fac- 
ing p. 38). The angle blade makes it possible to cut 
very near to small plants and between close-growing 
plants, while the strap over the back of a finger or 
thumb leaves the fingers free for weeding without 
dropping the instrument. 

There are two things to be kept in mind about 
hand-weeding which will reduce this work to the 
minimum. First, never let the weeds get a start ; for 
even if they do not increase in number, if they once 
smother the ground or crop, you will wish you had 
never heard of a garden. Second, do your hand- 
weeding while the surface soil is soft, when the 
weeds come out easily. A hard-crusted soil will 
double and treble the amount of labor required. 

It would seem that it should be needless, when 
garden tools are such savers of labor, to suggest that 
they should be carefully kept, always bright and 
clean and sharp, and in repair. But such advice is 
needed, to judge by most of the tools one sees. 



38 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Always have a piece of cloth or old bag on hand 
where the garden tools are kept, and never put them 
away soiled and wet. Keep the cutting edges sharp. 
There is as much pleasure in trying to run a dull 
lawnmower as in working wth a rusty, battered hoe. 
Have an extra handle in stock in case of accident; 
they are not expensive. In selecting hand tools, 
always pick out those with handles in which the 
grain does not run out at the point where there will 
be much strain in using the tool. In rakes, hoes, 
etc., get the types with ferrule and shank one con- 
tinuous piece, so as not to be annoyed with loose 
heads. 

Spend a few cents to send for some implement 
catalogues. They will well repay careful perusal, 
even if you do not order this year. In these days 
of intensive advertising, the commercial catalogue 
often contains matter of great worth, in the gath- 
ering and presentation of which no expense has been 
spared. 

FOR FIGHTING PLANT ENEMIES 

The devices and implements used for fighting 
plant enemies are of two sorts: — (i) those used to 
afiford mechanical protection to the plants ; (2) those 
used to apply insecticides and fungicides. Of the 
first the most useful is the covered frame. It con- 
sists usually of a wooden box, some eighteen inches 



Implements 



39 



to two feet square and about eight high, covered with 
glass, protecting cloth, mosquito netting or mosquito 
wire. The first two coverings have, of course, the 
additional advantage of retaining heat and protect- 
ing from cold, making it possible by their use to plant 
earlier than is otherwise safe. They are used exten- 
sively in getting an extra early and safe start with 
cucumbers, melons and the other vine vegetables. 

Simpler devices for protecting newly-set plants, 
such as tomatoes or cabbage, from the cut- worm, are 
stiff, tin, cardboard or tar paper collars, which are 
made several inches high and large enough to be 
put around the stem and penetrate an inch or so into 
the soil. 

For applying poison powders, such as dry Paris 
green, hellebore and tobacco dust, the home gardener 
should supply himself with a powder gun, two types 
of which are illustrated facing p. 32. If one must 
be restricted to a single implement, however, it will 
be best to get one of the hand-power, compressed- 
air sprayers — either a knapsack pump or a com- 
pressed-air sprayer — types of which are illustrated. 
These are used for applying wet sprays, and should 
be supplied with one of the several forms of mist- 
making nozzles, the non-cloggable automatic type 
being the best. For more extensive work a barrel 
pump, mounted on wheels, will be desrable, but one 
of the above will do a great deal of work in little 



40 Home Vegetable Gardening 

time. Extension rods for use in spraying trees and 
vines may be obtained for either. ( See illustration in 
chapter on spraying, facing p. 215.) For operations 
on a very small scale a good hand-syringe may be 
used, but as a general thing it will be best to invest a 
few dollars more and get a small tank sprayer, as 
this throws a continuous stream or spray and holds 
a much larger amount of the spraying solution. 
Whatever type is procured, get a brass machine — 
it will out-wear three or four of those made of 
cheaper metal, which succumbs very quickly to the 
corroding action of the strong poisons and chemicals 
used in them. 

Of implements for harvesting, beside the spade, 
prong-hoe and spading-fork already mentioned, very 
few are used in the small garden, as most of them 
need not only long rows to be economically used, 
but horse-power also. The onion harvester attach- 
ment for the double wheel hoe, costing $1.00, may 
be used with advantage in loosening onions, beets, 
turnips, etc., from the soil or for cutting spinach. 
Running the hand-plow close on either side of car- 
rots, parsnips and other deep-growing vegetables 
will aid materially in getting them out. For fruit 
picking, with tall trees, the wire-fingered fruit-picker, 
secured to the end of a long handle, will be of great 
assistance, but with the modern method of using low- 
headed trees it will not be needed. 



Implements 



41 



Another class of garden implements are those 
used in pruning — ^but where this is attended to prop- 
erly from the start, a good sharp jack-knife and a 
pair of pruning shears (the English makes are the 
best, as they are in some things, when we are frank 
enough to confess the truth) will easily handle all 
the work of the kind necessary. 

Still another sort of garden device is that used 
for supporting the plants; such as stakes, trellises, 
wires, etc. Altogether too little attention usually is 
given these, as with proper care in storing over win- 
ter they will not only last for years, but add greatly 
to the convenience of cultivation and to the neat 
appearance of the garden. Various contrivances are 
illustrated in the seed catalogues, and many may be 
home-made — such as the stake-trellis for supporting 
beans, illustrated facing p. 106. 

As a final word to the intending purchaser of gar- 
den tools, I would say : first thoroughly investigate 
the different sorts available, and when buying, do 
not forget that a good tool or a well-made machine 
will be giving you satisfactory use long, long after 
the price is forgotten, while a poor one is a constant . 
source of discomfort. Get good tools, and take 
good care of them. And let me repeat that a few 
dollars a year, judiciously spent, for tools afterward 
well cared for, will soon give you a very complete 
set, and add to your garden profit and pleasure. 



Chapter VI. 



MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 

TO a very small extent garden vegetables get 
their food from the air. The amount ob- 
tained in this way however, is so infinitesi- 
mal that from the practical standpoint it need not be 
considered at all. Practically speaking, your vegeta- 
bles must get all their food from the garden soil. 

This important garden fact may seem self-evi- 
dent, but, if one may judge by their practice, ama- 
teur gardeners very frequently fail to realize it. The 
professional gardener must come to realize it for the 
simple reason that if he does not he will go out of 
business. Without an abundant supply of suitable 
food it is just as impossible to grow good vegetables 
as it would be to train a winning football team on a 
diet of sweet cider and angel cake. Without plenty 
of plant food, all the care, coddling, coaxing, culti- 
vating, spraying and worrying you may give will 
avail little. The soil must be rich or the garden will 
be poor. 

(42) 



Pulverize and level the soil by a backward-and- 
forward motion of the rake, not attempting to 
rake off all the small stones. Choose the bow- 
head rake rather than this pattern, as the 
former is stronger 



Fertilizers 



43 



Plant food is of as many kinds, or, more accurately 
speaking, in as many forms, as is food for human 
beings. But the first distinction to make in plant 
foods is that between available and non-available 
foods — that is, between foods which it is possible 
for the plant to use, and those which must undergo 
a change of some sort before the plant can take 
them up, assimilate them, and turn them into a 
healthy growth of foliage, fruit or root. It is just 
as readily possible for a plant to starve in a soil 
abounding in plant food, if that food is not avail- 
able, as it would be for you to go unnourished in the 
midst of soups and tender meats if the latter were 
frozen solid. 

Plants take all their nourishment in the form of 
soups, and very weak ones at that. Plant food to be 
available must be soluble to the action of the feeding 
root tubes ; and unless it is available it might, as far 
as the present benefiting of your garden is concerned, 
just as well not be there at all. Plants take up their 
food through innumerable and microscopic feeding 
rootlets, which possess the power of absorbing 
moisture, and furnishing it, distributed by the plant 
juices, or sap, to stem, branch, leaf, flower and fruit. 
There is one startling fact which may help to fix 
these things in your memory : it takes from 300 to 
500 pounds of water to furnish food for the build- 
ing of one pound of dry plant matter. You can see 



44 Home Vegetable Gardening 



why plant food is not of much use unless it is avail- 
able ; and it is not available unless it is soluble. 

THE THEORY OF MANURING 

The food of plants consists of chemical elements, 
or rather, of numerous substances which contain 
these elements in greater or less degrees. There 
is not room here to go into the interesting science 
of this matter. It is evident, however, as we have 
already seen that the plants must get their food 
from the soil, that there are but two sources for 
such food : it must either be in the soil already, or 
we must put it there. The practice of adding plant 
food to the soil is what is called manuring. 

The only three of the chemical elements mentioned 
which we need consider are : nitrogen, phosphoric 
acid, and potash. The average soil contains large 
amounts of all three, but they are for the most part 
in forms which are not available and, therefore, to 
that extent, may be at once dismissed from our con- 
sideration. (The non-available plant foods already 
in the soil may be released or made available to some 
extent by cultivation. See Chapter VII.) In prac- 
tically every soil that has been cultivated and 
cropped, in long-settled districts, the amounts of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash which are im- 
mediately available will be too meager to produce 
a good crop of vegetables. It becomes absolutely 



Fertilizers 



45 



necessary then, if one would have a really successful 
garden, no matter how small it is, to add plant foods 
to the soil abundantly. When you realize, ( i ) that 
the number of plant foods containing the three es- 
sential elements is almost unlimited, (2) that each 
contains them in different proportions and in differ- 
ing degrees of availability, (3) that the amount of 
the available elements already in the soil varies 
greatly and is practically undeterminable, and (4) 
that different plants, and even different varieties of 
the same plant, use these elements in widely differing 
proportions; then you begin to understand what a 
complex matter this question of manuring is and 
why it is so much discussed and so little understood. 
What a labyrinth it offers for any writer — to say 
nothing of the reader — to go astray in! 

I have tried to present this matter clearly. If I 
have succeeded it may have been only to make the 
reader hopelessly discouraged of ever getting at any- 
thing definite in the question of enriching the soil. 
In that case my advice would be that, for the time 
being, he forget all about it. Fortunately, in the 
question of manuring, a little knowledge is not often 
a dangerous thing. Fortunately, too, your plants do 
not insist that you solve the food problem for them. 
Set a full table and they will help themselves and 
take the right dishes. The only thing to worry 
about is that of the three important foods men- 



46 Home Vegetable Gardening 



tioned (nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash) there 
will not be enough : for it has been proved that when 
any one of these is exhausted the plant practically 
stops growth ; it will not continue to ''fill up" on the 
other two. Of course there is such a thing as going 
to extremes and wasting plant foods, even if it does 
not, as a rule, hurt the plants. If, however, the fer- 
tilizers and manures described in the following 
pages are applied as directed, and as mentioned in 
Chapter VII., good results will be certain, provided 
the seed, cultivation and season are right. 

VARIOUS MANURES 

The terms ''manure'' and "fertilizer" are used 
somewhat ambiguously and interchangeably. Using 
the former term in a broad sense — as meaning any 
substance containing available plant food applied to 
the soil, we may say that manure is of two kinds : 
organic, such as stable manure, or decayed vegetable 
matter; and inorganic, such as potash salts, phos- 
phatic rock and commercial mixed fertilizers. In a 
general way the term "fertilizer" applies to these 
inorganic manures, and I shall use it in this sense 
through the following pages. 

Between the organic manures, or "natural" 
manures as they are often called, and fertilizers 
there is a very important difference which should 
never be lost sight of. In theory, and as a chemical 



O 



o 

. o 



In order to be able to supply your garden soil with the 
elements of plant food it really needs, you will have to keep a 
record of production under various conditions, and then mix 
your fertilizers in the proper proportions to suit. Break up 
all lumps and mix the ingredients by hoeing in a box 



Fertilizers 



47 



fact too, a bag of fertilizer may contain twice the 
available plant food of a ton of well rotted manure ; 
but out of a hundred practical gardeners ninety-nine 
— and probably one more — would prefer the manure. 
There is a reason why — two reasons, even if not one 
of the hundred gardeners could give them to you. 
First, natural manures have a decided physical effect 
upon most soils (altogether aside from the plant 
food they contain) ; and second, plants seem to have 
a preference as to the form in which their food ele- 
ments are served to them. Fertilizers, on the other 
hand, are valuable only for the plant food they con- 
tain, and sometimes have a bad effect upon the 
physical condition of the soil. 

When it comes right down to the practical ques- 
tion of what to put on your garden patch to grow 
big crops, nothing has yet been discovered that is 
better than the old reliable stand-by — well rotted, 
thoroughly fined stable or barnyard manure. Heed 
those adjectives ! We have already seen that plant 
food which is not available might as well be, for our 
immediate purposes, at the North Pole. The plant 
food in "green" or fresh manure is not available, 
and does not become so until it is released by the 
decay of the organic matters therein. Now the time 
possible for growing a crop of garden vegetables is 
limited ; in many instances it is only sixty to ninety 
days. The plants want their food ready at once; 



48 Home Vegetable Gardening 

there is no time to be lost waiting for manure to 
rot in the soil. That is a slow process — especially 
so in clayey or heavy soils. So on your garden use 
only manure that is well rotted and broken up. On 
the other hand, see that it has not ''fire-fanged" or 
burned out, as horse manure, if piled by itself and 
left, is very sure to do. If you keep any animals 
of your own, see that the various sorts of manure — 
excepting poultry manure, which is so rich that it 
is a good plan to keep it for special purposes — are 
mixed together and kept in a compact, built-up 
square heap, not a loose pyramidal pile. Keep it 
under cover and where it cannot wash out. If you 
have a pig or so, your manure will be greatly im- 
proved by the rooting, treading and mixing they 
will give it. If not, the pile should be turned from 
bottom to top and outside in and rebuilt, treading 
down firmly in the process, every month or two — 
applying water, but not soaking, if it has dried out 
in the meantime. Such manure will be worth two 
or three times as much, for garden purposes, as that 
left to burn or remain in frozen lumps. If you have 
to buy all your manure, get that which has been 
properly kept; and if you are not familiar with the 
condition in which it should be, get a disinterested 
gardener or farmer to select it for you. When pos- 
sible, it will pay you to procure manure several 
months before you want to use it and work it over 



Fertilizers 



49 



as suggested above. In buying manure keep in mind 
not what animals made it, but what food was fed- — 
that is the important thing. For instance, the ma- 
nure from highly-fed livery horses may be, weight 
for weight, worth three to five times that from cattle 
wintered over on poor hay, straw and a few roots. 

There are other organic manures which it is some- 
times possible for one to procure, such as refuse 
brewery hops, fish scraps and sewage, but they 
are as a rule out of the reach of, or objectionable 
for, the purposes of the home gardener. 

There are, however, numerous things constantly 
going to waste about the small place, which should 
be converted into manure. Fallen leaves, grass clip- 
pings, vegetable tops and roots, green weeds, gar- 
bage, house slops, dish water, chip dirt from the 
wood-pile, shavings — any thing that will rot away, 
should go into the compost heap. These should be 
saved, under cover if possible, in a compact heap 
and kept moist (never soaked) to help decomposi- 
tion. To start the heap, gather up every available 
substance and make it into a pile with a few wheel- 
barrows full, or half a cartload, of fresh horse man- 
ure, treading the whole down firmly. Fermentation 
and decomposition will be quickly started. The heap 
should occasionally be forked over and restacked. 
Light dressings of lime, mixed in at such times, will 
aid thorough decomposition. 



50 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Wood ashes form another valuable manure which 
should be carefully saved. Beside the plant food 
contained, they have a most excellent effect upon the 
mechanical condition of almost every soil. Ashes 
should not be put in the compost heap, because there 
are special uses for them, such as dusting on squash 
or melon vines, or using on the onion bed, which 
makes it desirable to keep them separate. Wood 
ashes may frequently be bought for fifty cents a 
barrel, and at this price a few barrels for the home 
garden will be a good investment. 

Coal ashes contain practically no available plant 
food, but are well worth saving to use on stiflF soils, 
for paths, etc. 

VALUE OF GREEN MANURING 

Another source of organic manures, altogether 
too little appreciated, is what is termed "green 
manuring" — the plowing under of growing crops to 
enrich the land. Even in the home garden this sys- 
tem should be taken advantage of whenever possible. 
In farm practice, clover is the most valuable crop 
to use for this purpose, but on account of the length 
of time necessary to grow it, it is useful for the vege- 
table garden only when there is sufficient room to 
have clover growing on, say, one half-acre plot, 
while the garden occupies, for two years, another 
half-acre; and then changing the two about. This 




Tf the soil after rain compresses into a pasty compact 
mass, turn to another sp')r f«.)r your 'jardoti sitv 




If ilie compressed l)all of earth crnrnbles apart in the 
hands when released, it is good garden loam. 



Sow small seedr directly from the packet, shak- 
ing them directly into the drill when there is 
no wind. Cover at once 




Fertilizers 



51 



system will give an ideal garden soil, especially 
where it is necessary to rely for the most part upon 
chemical fertilizers. 

There are, however, four crops valuable for green- 
manuring the garden, even where the same spot 
must be occupied year after year: rye, field com, 
field peas (or cow peas in the south) and crimson 
clover. After the first of September, sow every 
foot of garden ground cleared of its last crop, with 
winter rye. Sow all ground cleared during August 
with crimson clover and buckwheat, and mulch the 
clover with rough manure after the buckwheat dies 
down. Sow field peas or corn on any spots that 
would otherwise remain unoccupied six weeks or 
more. All these are sowm broadcast, on a freshly 
raked surface. Such a system will save a very large 
amount of plant food which otherwise would be 
lost, will convert unavailable plant food into availa- 
ble forms while you wait for the next crop, and add 
humus to the soil — concerning the importance of 
which see Chapter VII., page 67. 

CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS 

I am half tempted to omit entirely any discussion 
of chemical fertilizers: to give a list of them, tell 
how to apply them, and let the why and wherefore 
go. It is, however, such an important subject, and 
the home gardener will so frequently have to rely 



52 Home Vegetable Gardening 



almost entirely upon their use, that probably it will 
be best to explain the subject as thoroughly as I can 
do it in very limited space. I shall try to ^ive the 
theory of scientific chemical manuring in one 
paragraph. 

We have already seen that the soil contains within 
itself some available plant food. We can determine 
by chemical analysis the exact amounts of the va- 
rious plant foods — nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, 
etc. — which a crop of any vegetable will remove 
from the soil. The idea in scientific chemical ma- 
nuring is to add to the available plant foods already 
in the soil just enough more to make the resulting 
amounts equal to the quantities of the various ele- 
ments used by the crop grown. In other words : 

Available plant food elements in 

the soil, plus 
Available chemical food elements 
supplied in fertilizers 

That was the theory — a very pretty and profound 
one! The discoverers of it imagined that all agri- 
culture would be revolutionized; all farm and 
garden practice reduced to an exact science ; all older 
theories of husbandry and tillage thrown by the 
heels together upon the scrap heap of outworn 
things. Science was to solve at one fell swoop all 
the age-old problems of agriculture. And the whole 
thing was all right in every way but one — it didn't 



Amounts of food ele- 
— ments in matured 
crop 



Fertilizers 



53 



work. The unwelcome and obdurate fact remained 
that a certain number of pounds of nitrogen, phos- 
phoric acid and potash — about thirty-three — in a 
ton of good manure would grow bigger crops than 
would the same number of pounds of the same ele- 
ments in a bag of chemical fertilizer. 

Nevertheless this theory, while it failed as the 
basis of an exact agricultural science, has been de- 
veloped into an invaluable guide for using all 
manures, and especially concentrated chemical ma- 
nures. And the above facts, if I have presented 
them clearly, will assist the home gardener in solv- 
ing the fertilizer problems which he is sure to 
encounter. 

VARIOUS FERTILIZERS 

What are termed the raw materials from which 
the universally known "mixed fertilizers" are made 
up, are organic or inorganic substances which con- 
tain nitrogen, phosphoric acid or potash in fairly 
definite amounts. 

Some of these can be used to advantage by them- 
selves. Those practical for use by the home gar- 
dener, I mention. The special uses to which they 
are adapted will be mentioned in Part Two, under 
the vegetables for which they are valuable. 

Ground Bone is rich in phosphate and lasts a 
long time; what is called "raw bone" is the best. 



54 Home Vegetable Gardening 



*'Bone dust" or "bone flour" is finely pulverized; it 
will produce quick results, but does not last as long 
as the coarser forms. 

CoTTOX-SEED IMeal is one of the best nitrogenous 
fertilizers for garden crops. It is safer than nitrate 
of soda in the hands of the inexperienced gardener, 
and decays very quickly in the soil. 

Peruvian Guano, in the pure form, is now prac- 
tically out of the market. Lower grades, less rich 
in nitrogen especially, are to be had ; and also "forti- 
fied" guano, in which chemicals are added to in- 
crease the content of nitrogen. It is good for quick 
results. 

XiTRATE OF Soda, when properly handled, fre- 
quently produces wonderful results in the garden, 

particularly upon quick-grovring crops. It is the 
richest in nitrogen of any chemical generally used, 
and a great stimulant to plant growth. When used 
alone it is safest to mix with an equal bulk of light 
dirt or some other filler. If applied pure, be sure 
to obserA'e the following rules or you may burn 
your plants: (i) Pulverize all lumps; (2) see that 
none of it lodges upon the foliage ; (3) never apply 
when there is moisture upon the plants; (4) apply 
in many small doses — say 10 to 20 pounds at a time 
for 50 X 100 feet of garden. It should be put on 
so sparingly as to be barely visible ; but its presence 
will soon be denoted by the moist spot, looking like 



Fertilizers 



a big rain drop, which each particle of it makes in 
the dry soil. Nitrate of soda may also be used 
safely in solution, at the rate of i pound to 12 
gallons of water. I describe its use thus at length 
because I consider it the most valuable single chemi- 
cal which the gardener has at command. 

Muriate and Sulphate of Potash are also 
used by themselves as sources of potash, but as a 
general thing it will be best to use them in combina- 
tion with other chemicals as described under "Home 
Mixing." 

Lime will be of benefit to most soils. It acts 
largely as an indirect fertilizer, helping to release 
other food elements already in the soil, but in non- 
available forms. It should be applied once in three 
to five years, at the rate of 75 to 100 bushels per 
acre, after plowing, and thoroughly harrowed in. 
Apply as long before planting as possible, or in the 
fall. 

mixed fertilizers 

Mixed fertilizers are of innumerable brands, and 
for sale everywhere. It is little use to pay attention 
to the claims made for them. Even where the 
analysis is guaranteed, the ordinary gardener has 
no way of knowing that the contents of his few bags 
are what they are labeled. The best you can do, 
however, is to buy on the basis of analysis, not of 



56 Home Vegetable Gardening 



price per ton — usually the more you pay per bag, 
the cheaper you are really buying your actual plant 
food. Send to the Experiment Station in your State 
and ask for the last bulletin on fertilizer values. It 
will give a list of the brands sold throughout the 
State, the retail price per ton, and the actual value 
of plant foods contained in a ton. Then buy the 
brand in which you will apparently get the greatest 
value. 

For garden crops the mixed fertilizer you use 
should contain (about) : 

Nitrogen, 4 per cent. ^ Basic formula 

Phosphoric acid, 8 per cent. V = for 
Potash, 10 per cent J Garden crops 

If applied alone, use at the rate of 1000 to 1500 
pounds per acre. If with manure, less, in propor- 
tion to the amount of the latter used. 

By ''basic formula" (see above) is meant one 
which contains the plant foods in the proportion 
which all garden crops must have. Particular crops 
may need additional amounts of one or more of the 
three elements, in order to attain their maximum 
growth. Such extra feeding is usually supplied by 
top dressings, during the season of growth. The 
extra food beneficial to the different vegetables will 
be mentioned in the cultural directions in Part Two. 



Fertilizers 



57 



HOME MIXING 

If you look over the Experiment Station report 
mentioned above, you will notice that what are called 
"home mixtures" almost invariably show a higher 
value compared to the cost than any regular brand. 
In some cases the difference is fifty per cent. This 
means that you can buy the ravv^ chemicals and make 
up your own mixtures cheaper than you can buy 
mixed fertilizers. More than that, it means you 
will have purer mixtures. More than that, it means 
you w^ill have on hand the materials for giving your 
crops the special feeding mentioned above. The 
idea widely prevails, thanks largely to the fertilizer 
companies, that home mixing cannot be practically 
done, especially upon a small scale. From both in- 
formation and personal experience I know the 
contrary to be the case. With a tight floor or plat- 
form, a square-pointed shovel and a coarse wire 
screen, there is absolutely nothing impractical about 
it. The important thing is to see that all ingredients 
are evenly and thoroughly miixed. A scale for 
weighing will also be a convenience. Further in- 
formation may be had from the firms which sell raw 
m.aterials, or from your Experim.ent Station. 

APPLYING MANURES 

The matter of properly applying manure, even on 
the small garden, is also of importance. In amount, 



58 Home Vegetable Gardening 



from fifteen to twenty-five cords, or 60 to 100 cart- 
loads, will not be too much; although if fertilizers 
are used to help out, the manure may be decreased 
in proportion. If possible, take it from the heap in 
vvhich it has been rotting, and spread evenly over the 
soil immediately before plowing. If actively fer- 
menting, it will lose by being exposed to wind and 
sun. If green, or in cold weather, it may be spread 
and left until plowing is done. When plowing, it 
should be completely covered under, or it will give 
all kinds of trouble in sowing and cultivating. 

Fertilizers should be applied, where used to sup- 
plement manure or in place of it, at from 500 to 
1506 pounds per acre, according to grade and other 
conditions. It is sown on broadcast, after plowing, 
care being taken to get it evenly distributed. This 
may be assured by sowing half while going across 
the piece, and the other half while going lengthwise 
of it. When used as a starter, or for top dressings 
— as mentioned in connection with the basic formula 
— it may be put in the hill or row at time of planting, 
or applied on the surface and worked in during the 
grow^th of the plants. In either case, especially with 
highly concentrated chemicals, care must be taken to 
mix them thoroughly with the soil and to avoid 
burning the tender roots. 

This chapter is longer than I wanted to make it, 
but the problem of how best to enrich the soil is the 



Fertilizers 



59 



most difficult one in the whole business of gardening, 
and the degree of your success in growing vegetables 
will be measured pretty much by the extent to which 
you master it. You cannot do it at one reading. 
Re-read this chapter, and when you understand the 
several subjects mentioned, in the brief way which 
limited space made necessary, pursue them farther 
in one of the several comprehensive books on the 
subject. It will well repay all the time you spend 
upon it. Because, from necessity, there has been so 
much of theory mixed up with the practical in this 
chapter, I shall very briefly recapitulate the direc- 
tions for just what to do, in order that the subject 
of manuring may be left upon the same practical 
basis governing the rest of the book. 

To make your garden rich enough to grow big 
crops, buy the most thoroughly worked over and 
decomposed manure you can find. If it is from 
grain-fed animals, and if pigs have run on it, it will 
be better yet. If possible, buy enough to put on at 
the rate of about twenty cords to the acre; if not, 
supplement the manure, which should be plowed un- 
der, with 500 to 1500 pounds of high-grade mixed 
fertilizer (analyzing nitrogen four per cent., phos- 
phoric acid eight per cent., potash ten per cent.) — 
the quantity in proportion to the amount of manure 
used, and spread on broadcast after plowing and 
thoroughly harrowed in. In addition to this general 



6o Home Vegetable Gardening 

enrichment of the soil, suitable quantities of nitrate 
of soda, for nitrogen ; bone dust (or acid phosphate), 
for phosphoric acid; and sulphate of potash, for 
potash, should be bought for later dressings, as sug- 
gested in cultural directions for the various crops. 

If the instructions in the above paragraph are 
followed out you may rest assured that your vegeta- 
bles will not want for plant food and that, if other 
conditions are favorable, you will have maximum 
crops. 



Chapter VII 

THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION 

HAVING considered, as thoroughly as the 
limited space available permitted, the mat- 
ter of plant foods, we must proceed to the 
equally important one of how properly to set the 
table, on or rather in, which they must be placed, 
before the plants can use them. 

As was noted in the first part of the preceding 
chapter, most tillable soils contain the necessary 
plant food elements to a considerable extent, but 
only in a very limited degree in available forms. 
They are locked up in the soil larder, and only after 
undergoing physical and chemical changes may be 
taken up by the feeding roots of plants. They are 
unlocked only by the disintegration and decomposi- 
tion of the soil particles, under the influence of cul- 
tivation — or mechanical breaking up — and the access 
of water, air and heat. 

The great importance of the part the soil must 
play -in every garden operation is therefore readily 
seen. In the first place, it is required to furnish 

(6i) 



62 Home Vegetable Gardening 

all the plant food elements — some seven in number, 
beside the three,, nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
pcxtash, already mentioned. In the second, it must 
hold the moisture in which these foods must be 
either dissolved or suspended before plant roots can 
take them up. 

The soil is naturally classified in two ways : first, 
as to the amount of plant food contained; second, 
as to its mechanical condition — the relative propor- 
tions of sand, decomposed stone and clay, of which 
it is made up, and also the degree to which it has 
been broken up by cultivation. 

The approximate amount of available plant food 
already contained in the soil can be determined sat- 
isfactorily only by experiment. As before stated, 
however, almost without exception they will need 
liberal manuring to produce good garden crops. I 
shall therefore not go further into the first classifica- 
tion of soils mentioned. 

Of soils, according to their variation in mechan- 
ical texture, I shall mention only the three which the 
home gardener is likely to encounter. Rocks are the 
original basis of all soils, and according to the de- 
gree of fineness to which they have been reduced, 
through centuries of decomposition by air, moisture 
and frost, they are known as gravelly, sandy or 
clayey soils. 

Clay Soils are stiff, wet, heavy and usually 



The Soil 



63 



"cold." For garden purposes, until properly trans- 
formed, they hold too much water, are difficult to 
handle, and are ''late." But even if there be no 
choice but a clay soil for the home garden, the gar- 
dener need not be discouraged. By proper treatment 
it may be brought into excellent condition for grow- 
ing vegetables, and will produce some sorts, such as 
celery, better than any warm, light, "garden" soil. 
The first thing to do with the clay soil garden, is to 
have it thoroughly drained. For the small amount 
of ground usually required for a home garden, this 
will entail no great expense. Under ordinary con- 
ditions, a half-acre garden could be under-drained 
for from $25 to $50 — probably nearer the first 
figure. The drains — round drain tile, with collars — 
should be placed at least three feet deep, and if they 
can be put four, it will be much better. The lines 
should be, for the former depth, twenty to thirty 
feet apart, according to character of the soil ; if four 
feet deep, they will accomplish just as much if put 
thirty to fifty feet apart — so it pays to put them in 
deep. For small areas 2^ -inch land tile will do. 
The round style gives the best satisfaction and will 
prove cheapest in the end. The outlet should of 
course be at the lowest point of land, and all drains, 
main and laterals, should fall slightly, but without 
exception, toward this point. Before undertaking to 
put in the drains, even on a small area, it will pay 



64 Home Vegetable Gardening 



well to read some good book on the subject, such as 
Draining for Profit and Draining for Health, by 
Waring. 

But drain — if your land requires it. It will in- 
crease the productiveness of your garden at least 50 
to 100 per cent. — and such an increase, as you can 
readily see, will pay a very handsome annual divi- 
dend on the cost of draining. Moreover, the drain- 
ing system, if properly put in, will practically never 
need renewal. 

On land that has a stiff or clay sub-soil, it will 
pay well to break this up — thus making it more 
possible for the water to soak down through the 
surface soil rapidly — by using the sub-soil plow. 
(See Chapter V.) 

The third way to improve clay soils is by using 
coarse vegetable manures, large quantities of stable 
manures, ashes, chips, sawdust, sand, or any similar 
materials, which will tend to break up and lighten 
the soil mechanically. Lime and land plaster are 
also valuable, as they cause chemical changes which 
tend to break up clayey soils. 

The fourth thing to do in treating a garden of 
heavy soil is to plow, ridging up as much as possible, 
in the fall, thus leaving the soil exposed to the pul- 
verizing influences of weather and frost. Usually 
it will not need replowing in the spring. If not 
plowed until the spring, care should be taken not to 



The Soil 



65 



plow until it has dried out sufficiently to crumble 
from the plow, instead of making a wet, pasty 
furrow. 

The owner of a clayey garden has one big conso- 
lation. It will not let his plant food go to waste. 
It will hold manures and fertilizers incorporated 
with it longer than any other soil. 

Sandy Soil is, as the term implies, composed 
largely of sand, and is the reverse of clay soil. So, 
also, with the treatment. It should be so handled 
as to be kept as compact as possible. The use of a 
heavy roller, as frequently as possible, will prove 
very beneficial. Sowing or planting should follow 
immediately after plowing, and fertilizers or ma- 
nures should be applied only immediately before. 

If clay soil is obtainable nearby, a small area of 
sandy soil, such as is required for the garden, can be 
made into excellent soil by the addition of the 
former, applied as you would manure. Plow the 
garden in the fall and spread the clay soil on evenly, 
harrowing in with a disc in the spring. The result 
will be as beneficial as that of an equal dressing of 
good manure — and will be permanent. 

It is one of the valuable qualities of lime, and also 
of gypsum to even a greater extent, that while it 
helps a clay soil, it is equally valuable for a sandy 
one. The same is true of ashes and of the organic 
manures — especially of green manuring. Fertiliz- 



66 Home Vegetable Gardening 

ers, on sandy soils, where they will not long be 
retained, should be applied only immediately before 
planting, or as top and side dressing during growth. 

Sandy soil in the garden will produce early and 
quick results, and is especally adapted to melons, 
cucumbers, beans and a number of the other garden 
vegetables. 

Gravelly Soil is generally less desirable than 
either of the others ; it has the bad qualities of sandy 
soil and not the good ones of clay, besides being 
poorer in plant food. (Calcareous, or limestone 
pebble, soils are an exception, but they are not widely 
encountered.) They are not suited for garden 
work, as tillage harms rather than helps them. 

The Ideal Garden Soil is what is known as a 
*'rich, sandy loam," at least eight inches deep; if it 
is eighteen it will be better. It contains the proper 
proportions of both sand and clay, and further has 
been put into the best of mechanical condition by 
good tilth. 

That last word brings us to a new and very im- 
portant matter. "In good tilth" is a condition of 
the soil difficult to describe, but a state that the gar- 
dener comes soon to recognize. Ground, continually 
and properly cultivated, comes soon to a degree of 
fineness and lightness at once recognizable. Rain is 
immedately absorbed by it, and does not stand upon 
the surface ; it does not readily clog or pack down ; 



The Soil 



67 



it is crumbly and easily worked ; and until your gar- 
den is brought to this condition you cannot attain 
the greatest success from your efforts. I emphasized 
"properly cultivated." That means that the soil 
must be kept well supplied with humus, or decom- 
posed vegetable matter, either by the application of 
sufficient quantities of organic manures, or by green 
manuring, or by "resting under grass," which pro- 
duces a similar result from the amount of roots and 
stubble with which the soil is filled when the sod is 
broken up. Only by this supply of humus can the 
garden be kept in that light, friable, spongy condi- 
tion which is absolutely essential to luxuriant vege- 
table growth. 



PREPARING THE SOIL 

Unless your garden be a very small one indeed, it 
will pay to have it plowed rather than dug up by 



hand. If necessary, ar- 
range the surrounding 
fence as suggested in 
the accompanying dia- 
gram, to make possible 
the use of a horse for 
plowing and harrow- 
ing. (As suggested in 
the chapter on Imple- 
ments, page 32), if 




68 Home Vegetable Gardening 



there is not room for a team, the one-horse plow, 
spring-tooth and spike-tooth cultivators, can do the 
work in very small spaces. 

If however the breaking up of the garden must be 
done by hand, have it done deeply — down to the sub- 
soil, or as deep as the spading-fork will go. And 
have it done thoroughly, every spadeful turned com- 
pletely and every inch dug. It is hard work, but it 
must not be slighted. 

PLOWING 

If the garden can be plowed in the fall, by all 
means have it done. If it is in sod, it must be done 
at that time if good results are to be secured the fol- 
lowing season. In this latter case, plow a shallow 
furrow four to six inches deep and turning flat, as 
early as possible in the fall, turning under a coating 
of horse manure, or dressing of lime, and then going 
over it with a smoothing-harrow or the short blades 
of the Acme, to fill in all crevices. The object of the 
plowing is to get the sods rotted thoroughly before 
the following spring; then apply manure and plow 
deeply, six to twelve inches, according to the soil. 

Where the old garden is to be plowed up, if there 
has not been time to get in one of the cover crops 
suggested on page 51, plow as late as possible, and 
in ridges. If the soil is light and sandy, fall plowing 
will not be advisable. 



The Soil 



69 



In beginning the spring work it is customary to 
put on the manure and plow but once. But the labor 
of double plowing will be well repaid, especially on a 
soil likely to suffer from drouth, if the ground be 
plowed once, deeply, before the manure is spread on, 
and then cross-plowed just sufficiently to turn the 
manure well under — say five or six inches. On stiff 
lands, and especially for root crops, it will pay if 
possible to have the sub-soil plow follow the regular 
plow. This is, of course, for thoroughly rotted and 
fined manure; if coarse, it had better be put under 
at one plowing, making the best of a handicap. If 
you have arranged to have your garden plowed "by 
the job," be on hand to see that no shirking is done, 
by taking furrows wider than the plow can turn com- 
pletely; it is possible to "cut and cover" so that the 
surface of a piece will look well enough, when in 
reality it is little better than half plowed. 

HARROWING 

That is the first step toward the preparation of a 
successful garden out of the way. Next comes the 
harrowing ; if the soil after plowing is at all stiff and 
lumpy, get a disc-harrow if you can ; on clayey soils 
a "cut-a-way" (see Implements). On the average 
garden soil, however, the Acme will do the work of 
pulverizing in fine shape. 

If, even after harrowing, the soil remains lumpy. 



yo Home Vegetable Gardening 

have the man who is doing your work get a horse- 
roller somewhere, and go over the piece with that. 
The roller should be used also on very sandy and 
light soils, after the first harrowing (or after the 
plowing, if the land turns over mellow) to compact 
it, as suggested on page 65. To follow the first 
harrowing (or the roller) ,use a smoothing-harrow, 
the Acme set shallow, or a "brush." 

FINING. 

This treatment will reduce to a minimum the labor 

of finally preparing the seed- or plant-bed with the 
iron rake (or, on large gardens, with the Meeker 
harrow). After the finishing touches, the soil should 
be left so even and smooth that you can with diffi- 
culty bring yourself to step on it. Get it "like a 
table" — and then you are ready to begin gardening. 

Whatever implements are used, do not forget the 
great importance of making the soil thoroughly fine, 
not only at the surface, but as far as possible below. 
Even under the necessity of repetition. I want to em- 
phasize this again by stating the four chief benefits, 
of this thorough pulverization : First, it adds mate- 
rially in making the plant foods in the soil available 
for use; secondly, it induces the growing plants to 
root deeply, and thus to a greater extent to escape 
the drying influence of the sun; thirdly, it enables 
the soil to absorb rain evenly, where it falls, which 



If you have not time to make your own coldframe, buy one 
ready-made that simply needs bohing together 




The sash, with the glass whitewashed, may be used for shading 
and protecting fine seed sown outdoors 



The figures show the sizes of the various parts and their 
proper relation for a frame to hold the standard 3x6 ft. sash 




The compost of leaves and fresh horse manure, before going 
into the bed, must be turned over several times at intervals of 
a few days, to be got in condition for furnishing an even, 
lasting heat 



The Soil 



71 



would otherwise either run off and be lost altogether, 
or collect in the lower parts of the garden ; and last, 
and most important, it enables the soil to retain mois- 
ture thus stored, as in a subterranean storage tank, 
but where the plants can draw upon it, long after 
carelessly prepared and shallow soils are burning 
up in the long protracted drouths which we seem 
to be increasingly certain of getting during the late 
summer. 

Prepare your garden deeply, thoroughly, care- 
fully, in addition to making it rich, and you may 
then turn to those more interesting operations out- 
lined in the succeeding pages, with the well founded 
assurance that your thought and labor will be re- 
warded by a garden so remarkably more successful 
than the average garden is, that all your extra pains- 
taking will be richly repaid. 



Part Two — Vegetables 



Chapter VIII. 

STARTING THE PLANTS 

THIS beautifully prepared garden spot — or 
rather the plant food in it — is to be trans- 
formed into good things for your table, 
through the ever wonderful agency of plant growth. 
The thread of life inhering in the tiniest seed, in the 
smallest plant, is the magic wand that may transmute 
the soil's dull metal into the gold of flower and fruit. 

All the thought, care and expense described in the 
preceding chapters are but to get ready for the two 
things from which your garden is to spring, in ways 
so deeply hidden that centuries of the closest obser- 
vation have failed to reveal their inner workings. 
Those two are seeds and plants. (The sticklers for 
technical exactness will here take exception, calling 
our attention to tubers, bulbs, corms and numerous 
other taverns where plant life puts up over night, 
between growth and growth, but for our present 
purpose we need not mind them.) 

The plants which you put out in your garden will 
have been started under glass from seed, so that, in- 

(72) 



Starting the Plants 73 



directly, everything depends on the seed. Good 
seeds, and true, you must have if your garden is to 
attain that highest success which should be our aim. 
Seeds vary greatly — very much more so than the 
beginner has any conception of. There are three 
essentials ; if seeds fail in any one of them, they will 
be rendered next to useless. First, they must be true ; 
selected from good types of stock and true to name ; 
then they must have been good, strong, plump seeds, 
full of life and gathered from healthy plants; and 
finally, they must be fresh.* It is therefore of vital 
importance that you procure the best seeds that can 
be had, regardless of cost. Poor seeds are dear at 
any price; you cannot afford to accept them as a 
gift. It is, of course, impossible to give a rule by 
which to buy good seed, but the following sugges- 
tions will put you on the safe track. First, purchase 
only of some reliable mail-order house; do not be 
tempted, either by convenience or cheapness, to buy 
the gaily lithographed packets displayed in grocery 
and hardware stores at planting time — as a rule they 
are not reliable ; and what you want for your good 
money is good seed, not cheap ink. Second, buy of 
seedsmen who make a point of growing and testing 
their own seed. Third, to begin with, buy from 
several houses and weed out to the one which proves, 
by actual results, to be the most reliable. Another 



*See table, page 85. 



74 Home Vegetable Gardening 

good plan is to purchase seed of any particular va- 
riety from the firm that makes a leading specialty of 
it; in many cases these specialties have been intro- 
duced by these firms and they grow their own sup- 
plies of these seeds ; they will also be surer of being 
true to name and type. 

Good plants are, in proportion to the amounts 
used, just as important as good seed — and of course 
you cannot afford losing weeks of garden useful- 
ness by growing entirely from seed sown out-doors. 
Beets, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, pep- 
pers, egg-plant, and for really efficient gardening, 
also onions, corn, melons, celery, lima beans, cucum- 
bers, and squash, will all begin their joyous journey 
toward the gardener's table several weeks before 
they get into the garden at all. They will all be 
started under glass and have attained a good, thrifty, 
growing size before they are placed in the soil we 
have been so carefully preparing for them. It is next 
to impossible to describe a "good" vegetable plant, 
but he who gardens will come soon to distinguish 
between the healthy, short- jointed, deep-colored 
plant which is ready to take hold and grow, and the 
soft, flabby (or too succulent) drawn-up growth of 
plants which have been too much pampered, or 
dwarfed, weazened specimens which have been 
abused and starved; he will learn that a dozen of 
the former will yield more than fifty of the latter. 




How one home-owner solved the problem of securing an 
effective and unobtrusive place for raising seedlings in the 
early spring. Unfortunately, not many houses have a roof of 
this form, but perhaps there is some other place about your 
own home in which you can build a garden under glass 







o 












ve 


j= 




b/'. 










o 








ITj 












O 




>» 


c 






OJ 




<u 




<+1 








O 




U-) 








X 
O 






c 




03 








u 




03 






a 










>> 


U 













^ o 

(U -t-« 

<u o 



O o3 
<U C 

S £ 



Starting the Plants 75 



Plants may be bought of the florist or market 
gardener. If so, they should be personally selected, 
some time ahead, and gotten some few days before 
needed for setting out, so that you may be sure to 
have them properly ''hardened off," and in the right 
degree of moisture, for transplanting, as will be 
described later. 

By far the more satisfactory way, however, is to 
grow them yourself. You can then be sure of hav- 
ing the best of plants in exactly the quantities and 
varieties you want. They will also be on hand when 
conditions are just right for setting them out. 

For the ordinary garden, all the plants needed 
may be started successfully in hotbeds and cold- 
frames. The person who has had no experience with 
these has usually an exaggerated idea of their cost 
and of the skill required to manage them. The skill 
is not as much a matter of expert knowledge as of 
careful regular care, daily. Only a few minutes a 
day, for a fev/ sash, but every day. The cost need 
be but little, especially if one is a bit handy with 
tools. The sash which serves for the cover, and is 
removable, is the important part of the structure. 
Sash may be had, ready glazed and painted, at from 
$2.50 to $3.50 each, and with care they will last ten 
or even twenty years, so you can see at once that 
not a very big increase in the yield of your garden 
will be required to pay interest on the investment. 



76 Home Vegetable Gardening 



Or you can buy the sash unglazed, at a proportion- 
ately lower price, and put the glass in yourself, if 
you prefer to spend a little more time and less money. 
However, if you are not familiar with the work, and 
want only a few sash, I would advise purchasing the 
finished article. In size they are three feet by six. 

Frames upon which to put the sash covering may 
also be bought complete, but here there is a chance 
to save money by constructing your own frames — the 
materials required being 2x4 in. lumber for posts, 
and inch-boards ; or better, if you can easily procure 
them, plank 2 x 12 in. 

So far as these materials go the hotbed and cold- 
frame are alike. The difference is that while the 
coldframe depends for its warmth upon catching and 
holding the heat of the sun's rays, the hotbed is arti- 
ficially heated by fermenting manure, or in rare in- 
stances, by hot water or steam pipes. 

In constructing the hotbed there are two methods 
used ; either by placing the frames on top of the ma- 
nure heap or by putting the manure within the 
frames. The first method has the advantage of per- 
mitting the hotbed to be made upon frozen ground, 
w^hen required in the spring. The latter, which is 
the better, must be built before the ground freezes, 
but is more economical of m.anure. The manure in 
either case should be that of grain-fed horses, and if 
a small amount of straw bedding, or leaves — not 



Starting the Plants 



77 



more, however, than one-third of the latter — be 
mixed among it, so much the better. Get this ma- 
nure several days ahead of the time wanted for use 
and prepare by stacking in a compact, tramped- 
down heap. Turn it over after three or four days, 
and re-stack, being careful to put the former top and 
sides of the pile now on the inside. 

Having nov/ ready the heating apparatus and the 
superstructure of our miniature greenhouse, the 
building of it is a very simple matter. If the ground 
is frozen, spread the manure in a low, flat heap — 
nine or ten feet side, a foot and a half deep, and as 
long as the number of sash to be used demands — a 
cord of manure thus furnishing a bed for about 
three sash, not counting for the ends of the string 
or row. This heap should be well trodden down and 
upon it should be placed or built the box or frame 
upon which the sash are to rest. In using this 
method it will be more convenient to have the frame 
made up beforehand and ready to place upon the 
manure, as shown in one of the illustrations. This 
should be at least twelve inches high at the front 
and some half a foot higher at the back. Fill in 
with at least four inches — better six — of good gar- 
den soil containing plenty of humus, that it may 
allow water to soak through readily. 

The other method is to construct the frames on 
the ground before severe freezing, and in this case 



78 Home Vegetable Gardening 



the front should be at least twenty-four inches high, 
part of which — not more than half — may be below 
the ground level. The 2 x 12 in. planks, when used, 
are handled as follows : stakes are driven in to 
support the back plank some two or three inches 
above the ground', — which should, of course, be 
level. The front plank is sunk two or three inches 
into the ground and held upright by stakes on the 
outside, nailed on. Remove enough dirt from inside 
the frame to bank up the planks about halfway on 
the outside. When this banking has frozen to a 
depth of two or three inches, cover with rough ma- 
nure or litter to keep frost from striking through. 
The manure for heating should be prepared as above 
and put in to the depth of a foot, trodden down, 
first removing four to six inches of soil to be put 
back on top of the manure, — a cord of the latter, in 
this case, serv^ing seven sashes. The vegetable to be 
grown, and the season and climate, will determine 
the depth of manure required — it will be from one to 
two feet, — the latter depth seldom being necessary. 

It must not be overlooked that this manure, when 
spent for heating purposes, is still as good as ever to 
enrich the garden, so that the expense of putting it 
in and removing it from the frames is all that you 
can fairly charge up against your experiment with 
hotbeds, if you are interested to know whether they 
really pay. 



Starting the Plants 79 



The exposure for the hotbeds should be where the 
sun will strike most directly and where they will be 
sheltered from the north. Put up a fence of rough 
boards, five or six feet high, or place the frames 
south of some building. 

The coldframe is constructed practically as in the 
hotbed, except that if manure is used at all it is for 
the purpose of enriching the soil where lettuce, rad- 
ishes, cucumbers or other crops are to be grown to 
maturity in it. 

If one can put up even a very small frame green- 
house, such as illustrated facing page 3, it will be 
a splendid investment both for profit and for pleas- 
ure. The cost is lower than is generally imagined, 
where one is content with a home-made structure. 
Look into it. 

PREPARING THE SOIL 

All this may seem like a lot of trouble to go to for 
such a small thing as a packet of seed. In reality it 
is not nearly so much trouble as it sounds, and then, 
too, this is for the first season only, a well built 
frame lasting for years — forever, if you want tOt 
take a little more time and make it of concrete in- 
stead of boards. 

But now that the frame is made, how to use it is 
the next question. 

The first consideration must be the soil. It should 
be rich, light, friable. There are some garden loams 



8o Home Vegetable Gardening 

that will do well just as taken up, but as a rule better 

results will be obtained where the soil is made up 
specially as follows : rotted sods two parts, old rotted 
manure one part, and enough coarse sand added to 
make the mixture fine and crumbly, so that, even 
when moist, it will fall apart when pressed into a 
ball in the hand. Such soil is best prepared by cut- 
ting out sod, in the summer, where the grass is green 
and thick, indicating a rich soil. Along old fences 
or the roadside where the wash has settled will be 
good places to get limited quantities. Those should 
be cut with considerable soil and stacked, grassy 
sides together, in layers in a compost pile. If the 
season proves very dry, occasionally soak the heap 
through. In late fall put in the cellar, or wherever 
solid freezing will not take place, enough to serv^e 
for spring work under glass. The amount can read- 
ily be calculated ; soil for three sash, four inches deep, 
for instance, would take eighteen feet or a pile 
three feet square and two feet high. The fine ma- 
nure (and sand, if necessary) may be added in the 
fall or when using in the spring. Here again it may 
seem to the amateur that unnecessary pains are 
being taken. I can but repeat what has been sug- 
gested all through these pages, that it will require 
but little more work to do the thing the best way 
as long as one is doing it at all, and the results will 
be not only better, but practically certain — and that 



Starting the Plants 



8i 



is a tremendously important point about all garden- 
ing operations. 

SOWING THE SEED 

Having now our frames provided and our soil 
composed properly and good strong tested seed on 
hand, we are prepared to go about the business of 
growing our plants with a practical certainty of 
success — a much more comfortable feeling than if, 
because something or other had been but half done, 
we must anxiously await results and the chances of 
having the work we had put into the thing go, after 
all, for nothing. 

The seed may be sown either directly in the soil 
or in ''flats." Flats are made as follows : Get from 
your grocer a number of cracker boxes, with the 
tops. Saw the boxes lengthwise into sections, a few 
two inches deep and the rest three. One box v/ill 
make four or five such sections, for two of which 
bottoms will be furnished by the bottom and top of 
the original box. Another box of the same size, 
knocked apart, will furnish six bottoms more to use 
for the sections cut from the middle of the box. The 
bottoms of all, if tight, should have, say, five three- 
quarter-inch holes bored in them to allow any sur- 
plus water to drain off from the soil. The shallow 
flats may be used for starting the seed and the three- 
inch ones for transplanting. Where sowing but a 



82 Home Vegetable Gardening 

small quantity of each variety of seed, the flats will 
be found much more convenient than sowing directly 
in the soil — and in the case of their use, of course, 
the soil on top of the manure need be but two or 
three inches deep and not especially prepared. 

Where the seed is to go directly into the frames, 
the soil described above is, of course, used. But 
when in flats, to be again transplanted, the soil for 
the first sowing will be better for having no manure 
in it, the idea being to get the hardest, stockiest 
growth possible. Soil for the flats in which the 
seeds are to be planted should be, if possible, one 
part sod, one part chip dirt or leaf mould, and one 
part sand. 

The usual way of handling the seed flats is to fill 
each about one-third full of rough material— screen- 
ings, small cinders or something similar — and then 
fill the box with the prepared earth, which should 
first be finely sifted. This, after the seeds are sown, 
should be copiously watered — with a fine rose spray, 
or if one has not such, through a folded bag, as illus- 
trated facing page 55, to prevent the w^ashing of the 
soil. 

Here is another way which I have used recently 
and, so far, with one hundred per cent, certainty of 
results. Last fall, when every bit of soil about my 
place was ash dry, and I had occasion to start im- 
mediately some seeds that were late in reaching me, 




A coMframe need by no means ht an unsighily garden 
accessory. This frame is tucked away in a southeastern 
angle of the house 



Starting the Plants 83 



my necessity mothered the following invention, an 
adaptation of the principle of sub-irrigation. To 
have filled the flats in the ordinary way would not 
have done, as it would have been impossible ever to 
wet the soil through without making a solid mud 
cake of it, in which seeds would have stood about as 
good a chance of doing anything as though not wa- 
tered at all. I filled the flats one-third full of 
sphagnum moss, which was soaked, then to within 
half an inch of the top with soil, which was likewise 
soaked, and did not look particularly inviting. The 
flats were then filled level-full of the dust-dry soil, 
planted, and put in partial shade. Within half a day 
the surface soil had come to just the right degree 
of moisture, soaked up from below, and there was 
in a few days more a perfect stand of seedlings. I 
have used this method in starting all my seedlings 
this spring — some forty thousand, so far — only 
using soil screenings, mostly small pieces of decayed 
sod, in place of the moss and giving a very light 
watering in the surface to make it compact and to 
swell the seed at once. Two such flats are shown 
facing p. 86, just ready to transplant. The seed- 
lings illustrated in the upper flat had received just 
two waterings since being planted. 

Where several hundred or more plants of each 
variety are wanted, sow the seed broadcast as evenly 
as possible and fairly thick — one ounce of cabbage, 



84 Home Vegetable Gardening 

for instance, to three to five 13 x 19 inch flats. If 
but a few dozen, or a hundred, are wanted, sow in 

rows two or three inches apart, being careful to 
label each correctly. Before sowing, the soil should 
be pressed firmly into the corners of the flats and 
leveled off perfectly smooth with a piece of board or 
shingle. Press the seed evenly into the soil with a 
flat piece of board, cover it lightly, one-eighth to 
one-quarter inch, with sifted soil, press down barely 
enough to make smooth, and water with a very fine 
spray, or through burlap. 

For the next two days the flats can go on a pretty 
hot surface, if one is available, such as hot water or 
steam pipes, or top of a boiler, but if these are not 
convenient, directly into the frame, where the tem- 
perature should be kept as near as possible to that 
indicated in the table on the next page. 

In from two to twelve days, according to tempera- 
ture and variety, the little seedlings will begin to 
appear. In case the soil has not been made quite 
friable enough, they will sometimes "raise the roof" 
instead of breaking through. If so, see that the 
surface is broken up at once, with the fingers and a 
careful watering, as otherwise many of the little 
plants may become bent and lanky in a very short 
time. 

From now on until they are ready to transplant, a 
period of some three or four weeks, is the time when 



Starting the Plants 



85 



they will most readily be injured by neglect. There 
are things you will have to look out for, and your 



Vegetable 



Beets 

Broccali . . . . 
Brussels 

Sprouts 
Cabbage . . . . 
Cauliflower . . 

Celery 

Corn 

Cucumber. . . 
Egg-plant . . . 
Kohlrabi . . . . 

Lettuce 

Melon, musk. 
Melon, water 

Okra 

Onion 

Pepper 

Squash 

Tomato 



Date to Sow 



Feb. 15-Apr. I 
Feb. 15-Apr. I 

Feb. 15-Apr. I 
Feb. I -Apr. i 
Feb. I -Apr. i 
Feb. 15-Apr. I 
Apr. i-May i 
Mar. 15-May I 
Mar. i-Apr. 15 
Mar. i-Apr. i 
Feb. 15-Apr. I 
Apr. i-May i 
Apr. I-May i 
Mar. 15-Apr. 15 
Jan. 15-Mar. 15 
Mar. i-Apr. 15 
Mar. 15-Apr. 15 
Mar. i-Apr. 15. 



Seed Will 
Keep 
(about) 



5 years 
5 " 



Best Temperature to 
Germinate (about) 



55 degree 



50 
65 
75 
75 
55 
55 
75 
75 
65 
50 
75 
75 
75 



attention must be regular to the matters of tempera- 
ture, ventilation and moisture. 

The temperatures required by the different varie- 
ties will be indicated by the table above. It should be 
kept as nearly as possible within ten degrees lower 
and fifteen higher (in the sun) than given. If the 
nights are still cold, so that the mercury goes near 



86 Home Vegetable Gardening 

zero, it will be necessary to provide mats or shutters 
(see illustrations) to cover the glass at night. Or, 
better still, for the few earliest frames, have double- 
glass sash, the dead-air space making further pro- 
tection unnecessary. 

Ventilation : On all days when the tempera- 
ture within the frame runs up to sixty to eighty de- 
grees, according to variety, give air, either by tilting 
the sash up at the end or side, and holding in posi- 
tion with a notched stick; or, if the outside 
temperature permits, strip the glass off altogether, as 
shown facing p. 75. 

Watering : Keep a close watch upon the condi- 
tions of the soil, especially if you are using flats 
instead of planting directly in the soil. Wait until 
it is fairly dry — never until the plants begin to wilt, 
however — and then give a thorough soaking, all the 
soil will absorb. If at all possible do this only in the 
morning (up to eleven o'clock) on a bright sunny 
day. Plants in the seedling state are subject to 
"damping off" — a sudden disease of the stem tissue 
just at or below the soil, which either kills the seed- 
lings outright, or renders them worthless. Some 
authorities claim that the degree of moisture or 
dampness has nothing to do with this trouble. I am 
not prepared to contradict them, but as far as my 
own experience goes I am satisfied that the drier the 
stems and leaves can be kept, so long as the soil is 



Startixg the Plants 



87 



in good condition, the better. I consider this one 
of the advantages of the ''sub-irrigation" method of 
preparing the seed flats, described above. 

Transplanting : Under this care the little seed- 
lings will come along rapidly, as shown in the tw^o 
stages illustrated facing p. 83. Wlien the second 
true leaf is forming they will be ready for trans- 
planting or ''pricking off," as it is termed in garden 
parlance. If the plants are at all crowded in the 
boxes, this should be done just as soon as they are 
ready, as otherwise they will be injured by crowding 
and more likely to damp off. 

Boxes similar to the seed-flats, but an inch deeper, 
are provided for transplanting. Fill these with soil 
as described for frames — sifted through a coarse 
screen (chicken-ware size) and mixed with one-third 
rotted manure. Or place an inch of manure, which 
must be so thoroughly rotted that most of the heat 
has left, in the bottom, and fill in with soil. 

Find or construct a table or bench of convenient 
height, upon w^hich to work. With a flat piece of 
stick or one of the types of transplanting forks lift 
from the seedling box a clump of seedlings, dirt and 
all, clear to the bottom. Hold this clump in one 
hand and with the other gently tear away the seed- 
lings, one at a time, discarding all crooked or weak 
ones. Never attempt to pull the seedlings from the 
soil in the flats, as the little rootlets are very easily 



88 Home Vegetable Gardening 

broken off. They should come away almost intact, 
as shown facing p. 86. A\^ater your seed-flats the 
day previous to transplanting, so that the soil will be 
in just the right condition, neither wet enough to 
make the roots sticky nor dry enough to crumble 
away. 

Take the little seedling by the stem between 
thumb and forefinger, and with a small round 
pointed stick or dibber, or with the forefinger of the 
other hand, make a hole to receive the roots and 
about half the length — more if the seedlings are 
lanky — of the stem. As the seedling drops into 
place, the tips of both thumbs and forefingers, by one 
quick, firm movement, compress the earth firmly 
both down on the roots and against the stem, so 
that the plant sticks up firmly and may not be readily 
pulled out. Of course there is a knack about it 
which cannot be put into words — I could have 
pricked off a hundred seedlings in the time I am 
spending in trying to describe the operation, but a 
little practice will make one reasonably efficient at it. 

In my own work this spring, I have applied the 
"sub-irrigation" idea to this operation also. The 
manure placed in the bottom of the boxes is thor- 
oughly w^atered and an inch of soil put in and wa- 
tered also, and the box then filled and the plants 
pricked in. By preparing a number of flats at one 
time, but little additional work is required, and the 



Starting the Plants 



89 



results have convinced me that the extra trouble 
is well worth while. Of the early cabbage and cauli- 
flower, not two plants in a thousand have dropped 
out. 

Ordinarily about one hundred plants are put in a 
13 X 19 inch flat, but if one has room and is growing 
only a fev/ plants for home use, somewhat better 
plants may be had if fifty or seventy-five are put in. 
In either case keep the outside rows close to the 
edges of the flats, as they will have plenty of room 
anyway. When the flat is completed, jar the box 
slightly to level the surface, and give a thorough 
watering at once, being careful, however, to bend 
down the plants as little as possible. Set the flats 
close together on a level surface, and, if the weather 
is bright, shade from the sun during the middle of 
the day for two or three days. 

From now on keep at the required temperature 
and water thoroughly on bright mornings as often 
as the soil in the flats gets on the dry side, as garden- 
ers say — indicated by the whitening and crusting of 
the surface. Above all, give all the air possible while 
maintaining the necessary temperature. The quality 
of the plants will depend more upon this than any- 
thing else in the way of care. Whenever the temper- 
ature allows, strip off the sash and let the plants 
have the benefit of the rains. A good rain seems to 
do them more good than any watering. 



go Home Vegetable Gardening 

Should your plants of cabbage, lettuce, beets or 
cauliflower by any chance get frozen, do not give 
them up for lost, for the chances are that the follow- 
ing simple treatment will pull them through: In 
the first place, shade them thoroughly from the sun ; 
in the second, drench them with cold water, the 
coldest you can get — if you have to break the ice 
for it, so much the better. Try, however, to prevent 
its happening again, as they will be less able to resist 
subsequent injury. 

In hot weather, where watering and ventilation 
are neglected, the plants will sometimes become in- 
fested with the green aphis, which under such con- 
ditions multiplies with almost incredible rapidity. 
For treatment in this case see page i6i. 

Hardening off : For five days or a week before 
setting plants in the field they should be thoroughly 
hardened off. If they have been given plenty of air 
this treatment will mean little change for them — 
simply exposing them more each day, until for a 
few nights they are left entirely without protection. 
They will then be ready for setting out in the open, 
an operation which is described in the next chapter. 

STARTING PLANTS OUTSIDE 

Much of the above is applicable also to the starting 
of plants out-of-doors, for second and for succes- 
sion crops, such as celery and late cabbage. Select 



Starting the Plants 91 



for the outside seed-bed the most thoroughly'pulver- 
ized spot to be found, enriched and hghtened with 
fine manure. Mark off rows a foot apart, and to the 
necessary depth ; sow the seed evenly ; firm in if the 
soil is dry (facing p. 93), cover lightly with the 
back of the rake and roll or smooth with the back 
of the spade, or of a hoe, along the drills. The seed, 
according to variety, will begin to push through 
in from four to twenty days. At all times keep the 
seed-bed clear of weeds ; and keep the soil between 
the rows constantly cultivated. Not unless it is very 
dry will watering be necessary, but if it is required, 
give a thorough soaking toward evening. 

As the cabbage, celery and similar plants come 
along it will add to their sturdiness and stockiness 
to shear off the tops — about half of the large leaves 
— once or twice after the plants have attained a 
height of about six inches. 

If the precautions concerning seed and soil which 
I have given are heeded and the details of the work 
of planting, transplanting and care are carried out, 
planting time (April) will find the prospective gar- 
dener with a supply of good, stocky, healthy plants 
on hand, and impatient to get them into that care- 
fully prepared garden spot. All of this work has 
been — or should have been — interesting, but that 
which follows in the next chapter is more so. 



Chapter IX 



SOWING AND PLANTING 



HE importance of having good seeds has al- 



ready been declared. They must not only 



grow, but grow into what we have bought 
them for — be true to name. Without the latter 
quality we cannot be sure of good gardens, and with- 
out the former they will not be full ones. A meagre 
"stand" from seeds properly sown is a rather exas- 
perating and discouraging experience to encounter. 
The cost for fertilizing and preparing the land is just 
as much, and the cost of cultivating very nearly as 
much, when the rows are full of thrifty plants or 
strung out with poor ones. Whether you use ten 
cents' worth or ten dollars' worth, the best seed to be 
had will be the most economical to buy — to say noth- 
ing of the satisfaction that full rows give. 

And yet good seedsmen are more thoughtlessly 
and unjustly abused in the matter of seed vitality 
than in any other. Inexperienced gardeners seem 
universally to have the conviction that the only thing 
required in seed sowing is to cover the seed with 




(92) 




If the ?oil is at all dry lirm the seed into the 
rows with the ball of the foot before covering 



Sowing and Planting 



93 



soil. What sort of soil it is, or in what condition, 
or at what depth or temperature the seed is planted, 
are questions about which they do not trouble them- 
selves to think. 

Two conditions — moisture and warmth — are nec- 
essary to induce germination of seeds, no matter how 
full of life they may be ; and as was shown in the 
preceding chapter the different varieties have some 
choice as to the degree of each, especially of temper- 
ature. This means of course that some commonsense 
must be used in planting, and when planting out- 
doors, where we cannot regulate the temperature 
to our need, we simply must regulate our seed sow - 
ing to its dictates, no matter how impatient we mav 
be. 

To insure the best possible germination, and thus 
the best gardening, we must, first of all then, settle 
the question of temperature when sowing out-of- 
doors. For practical work it serves to divide the 
garden vegetables into two groups, though in plant- 
ing, the table on page 25, and special suggestions 
in the following chapter, should be consulted. 

WHEN TO sow OUTDOORS 

Sow from the end of March to the beginning of 
May, or when plum and peach trees bloom, the fol- 
lowing : 

Beet Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower 



94 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Celery Endive Kale Kohlrabi 
Lettuce Onions Parsley Parsnip 
Peas Radish Spinach Turnip 

Water-cress 

Sow from the beginning of May to the middle of 
June, or when apple trees bloom, the following: 
Beans Corn Cucumber Melon, musk 

Melon, water Okra Pumpkin Squash 
Tomato 

Getting the seed to sprout, however, is only the 
first step in the game; they must be provided with 
the means of immediately beginning to grow. This 
means that they should not be left to germinate in 
loosely packed soil, full of air spaces, ready to dry 
out at the first opportunity, and to let the tiny seed 
roots be shriveled up and die. The soil should touch 
the seed — be pressed close about it on all sides, so 
that the first tiny tap root will issue immediately 
into congenial surroundings where it can instantly 
take hold. Such conditions can be found only in a 
seed-bed fine but light enough to pack, reasonably 
rich and sufficiently moist, and where, in addition 
to this, the seed has been properly planted. 

METHODS OF PLANTING 

The seed-bed, as it is called, is the surface pre- 
pared to receive the seed, whether for a patch of 



Sowing and Planting 95 



radishes or an acre of onions. For crops to be sown 
directly where they are to go, the chapter on Prep- 
aration of the Soil takes us to this point, and as 
stated at the conclusion of that chapter, the final 
preparation of the bed should be made only imme- 
diately prior to its use. 

Having, then, good seeds on hand and the soil 
properly prepared to receive them, the only problem 
remaining is what way they shall be put in. The 
different habits of growth characteristic of different 
plants make it patent at the outset that there must be 
different methods of planting, for very evidently a 
cabbage, which occupies but three or four square feet 
of space and stays in one place to make a head, will 
not require the same treatment as a winter squash, 
roaming all over the garden and then escaping under 
the fence to hide some of its best fruit in the tall 
grass outside. 

The three systems of planting usually employed 
are known as "drills," "rows" and "hills." I do not 
remember ever seeing a definition giving the exact 
distinctions between them ; and in horticultural writ- 
ing they seem to be used, to some extent at least, in- 
terchangeably. As a rule "drills" refer to the grow- 
ing of plants continuously in rows, such as onions, 
carrots or spinach. "Rows" refer to the growing 
of plants at fixed distances apart in the rows such 
as cabbage, or potatoes — the cultivation, except hand 



g6 Home Vegetable Gardening 

weeding and hoeing, being all done in one direction, 
as with drills. "Hills" refer to the growing of plants 
usually at equal distances, four feet or more apart 
each way, with cultivating done in both directions, 
as with melons and squashes. I describe the differ- 
ent methods at length so that the reader may know 
more definitely just what is meant by the special 
instructions given in the following pages. 

SOWING THE SEED 

If one observes the suggestions as to temperature 
just given, and the following precautions in placing 
the seed within the soil, failure of good seed to 
germinate is practically impossible. In the first 
place, plant oji a freshly prepared surface, always 
just before a rain if possible, except in the case of 
very small seeds, when just after a rain will be 
better. If the soil is at all dry, or likely to be fol- 
lowed by a spell of hot, dry weather, always firm 
by using the back of the hoe for small seed, or the 
ball of the foot for larger ones, such as peas, beans 
or corn, to press the seed firmly and evenly into the 
soil before covering (see illustration facing p. 93). 
Then when the soil is covered in over the seed, firm 
along the top of the row very lightly, just enough 
to mark it and hold the soil in place. 

The depth of the drill furrow in which the seed 
is to be sown will depend ( i ) on the variety of vege- 



Sowing and Planting 



97 



table, (2) on the season of planting, and (3) on 
weather conditions. Remember that the seed must 
be supplied with moisture both to germinate and to 
continue to exist after germination; and also that 
it must have soil through which the air can to some 
extent penetrate. Keeping these things in mind, 
common sense dictates that seed planted in the 
spring, or during a wet spell of weather, will not 
need to be put in as deeply as should the same seed in 
summ.er or early autumn, or during a hot, dry spell. 

The old general rule is, to cover seed planted un- 
der glass, where the moisture can be controlled, to a 
depth of two or three times its diameter : and out-of- 
doors, to four or five times. I should say these 
depths were the minimums desirable. In other 
words, the smallest seed, such as onion, carrot, let- 
tuce, will go in one-quarter to one-half inch deep. 
Beets, spinach, parsnips and other medium-sized 
seed one-half to one inch deep, and peas, beans, corn, 
etc., two to four inches deep — usually near the first 
figure. 

After the seed is sown it is of course desirable 
to keep the ground from baking or crusting on top, 
as it is likely to do after a morning rain followed di- 
rectly by hot sun. If the seed sprouts have not yet 
reached the surface of the soil, rake very lightly 
across the rows with an iron rake; if they have 
broken through, work as close as possible to the 

7 



loo Home Vegetable Gardening 

you really would deserve the name of gardener ! If 
it must be done when the sun continues strong, shade 
the plants from, say, ten to three o'clock, for a day or 
two, with half sheets of old newspapers held in tent- 
shaped position over the plants by stones or earth. 
If it is necessary to give water, do it toward evening. 
If the plants have been properly set, however, only 
extreme circumstances will render this necessary. 

Keep a sharp lookout for cut-worms, maggots or 
other enemies described in Chapter XIIL 

And above all, CULTIVATE. 

Never let the soil become crusted, even if there is 
not a weed in sight. Keep the soil loosened up, 
for that will keep things growing. 



Chapter X 



THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES 

BEFORE taking up the garden vegetables in- 
dividually, I shall outline the general prac- 
tice of cultivation, which applies to all. 
The purposes of cultivation are three — to get rid 
of weeds, and to stimulate growth by ( i ) letting air 
into the soil and freeing unavailable plant food, and 
(2) by conserving moisture. 

As to weeds, the gardener of any experience need 
not be told the importance of keeping his crops clean. 
He has learned from bitter and costly experience 
the price of letting them get anything resembling a 
start. He knows that one or two days' growth, after 
they are well up, followed perhaps by a day or so 
of rain, may easily double or treble the work of 
cleaning a patch of onions or carrots, and that where 
weeds have attained any size they cannot be taken 
out of sowed crops without doing a great deal of 
injury. He also realizes, or should, that every day's 
growth means just so much available plant food 
stolen from under the very roots of his legitimate 
crops. 

(loi) 



I02 Home Vegetable Gardening 

' Instead of letting the weeds get away with any 
plant food, he should be furnishing more, for clean 
and frequent cultivation will not only break the soil 
up mechanically, but let in air, moisture and heat 
— all essential in effecting those chemical changes 
necessary to convert non-available into available 
plant food. Long before the science in the case was 
discovered, the soil cultivators had learned by obser- 
vation the necessity of keeping the soil nicely 
loosened about their growing crops. Even the 
lanky and untutored aborigine saw to it that his 
squaw not only put a bad fish under the hill of 
maize but plied her shell hoe over it. Plants need 
to breathe. Their roots need air. You might as 
well expect to find the rosy glow of happiness on 
the wan cheeks of a cotton-mill child slave as to 
expect to see the luxuriant dark green of healthy 
plant life in a suffocated garden. 

Important as the question of air is, that of water 
ranks beside it. You may not see at first what the 
matter of frequent cultivation has to do with water. 
But let us stop a moment and look into it. Take a 
strip of blotting paper, dip one end in water, and 
watch the moisture run up hill, soak up through 
the blotter. The scientists have labeled that "capil- 
lary attraction" — the water crawls up little invisible 
tubes formed by the texture of the blotter. Now 
take a similar piece, cut it across, hold the two cut 



Sow seeds for succession crops in a frame, where you can 
water them and keep close watch 




The plants all ready to be set out in the open garden. 
Remember above all to set them in firmly 



t/5 

c 

o 



o 

il 



o 
o 



be -1 



5 ° 
o 



Vegetable Cultivation 103 



edges firmly together, and try it again. The mois- 
ture refuses to cross the line : the connection has 
been severed. 

In the same way the water stored in the soil after 
a rain begins at once to escape again into the atmos- 
phere. That on the surface evaporates first, and 
that which has soaked in begins to soak in through 
the soil to the surface. It is leaving your garden, 
through the millions of soil tubes, just as surely 
as if you had a two-inch pipe and a gasoline engine, 
pumiping it into the gutter night and day! Save 
your garden by stopping the waste. It is the easiest 
thing in the world to do — cut the pipe in two. And 
the knife to do it with is — dust. By frequent culti- 
vation of the surface soil — not more than one or 
two inches deep for most small vegetables — the soil 
tubes are kept broken, and a mulch of dust is main- 
tained. Try to get over every part of your garden, 
especially where it is not shaded, once in every ten 
days or two weeks. Does that seem like too much 
work? You can push your wheel hoe through, and 
thus keep the dust mulch as a constant protection, 
as fast as you can walk. If you wait for the weeds, 
you will nearly have to crawl through, doing more 
or less harm by disturbing your growing plants, 
losing all the plant food (and they will take the 
cream) which they have consumed, and actually 
putting in more hours of infinitely more disagree- 



I04 Home Vegetable Gardening 

able work. ''A stitch in time saves nine!" Have 
your thread and needle ready beforehand! If I 
knew how to give greater emphasis to this subject 
of thorough cultivation, I should be tempted to de- 
vote the rest of this chapter to it. If the beginner 
at gardening has not been convinced by the facts 
given, there is only one thing left to convince him — 
experience. 

Having given so much space to the reason for 
constant care in this matter, the question of methods 
naturally follows. I want to repeat here, my 
previous advice — by all means get a wheel hoe. The 
simplest sorts cost only a few dollars, and will not 
only save you an infinite amount of time and work, 
but do the work better, very much better than it 
can be done by hand. You can grow good vegeta- 
bles, especially if your garden is a very small one, 
without one of these labor-savers, but I can assure 
you that you will never regret the small investment 
necessary to procure it. 

With a wheel hoe, the work of preserving the soil 
mulch becomes very simple. If one has not a wheel 
hoe, for small areas very rapid work can be done 
with the scuffle hoe (facing p. 28). 

The matter of keeping weeds cleaned out of the 
rows and between the plants in the rows is not so 
quickly accomplished. Where hand-work is neces- 
sar}^, let it be done at once. Here are a few practical 



Try to get over every part of yonr garden, especially where 
it is not shaded, once in every ten days to break up the surface 
crust ; the plants v^ill show the result 



With beans the ground may be worked over more deeply than 
with some of the other vegetables. Hoe the earth up about 
them a little each time. Do not touch when foliage is wet 



Vegetable Cultivation 105 



suggestions that will reduce this work to a mini- 
mum, (i) Get at this work while the ground is 
soft; as soon as the soil begins to dry out after a 
rain is the best time. Under such conditions the 
weeds will pull out by the roots, without breaking 
off. (2) Immediately before weeding, go over the 
rows with a wheel hoe, cutting shallow, but just as 
close as possible, leaving a narrow, plainly visible 
strip which must be hand-weeded. The best tool 
for this purpose is the double wheel hoe with disc 
attachment, or hoes for large plants. (3) See to it 
that not only the weeds are pulled but that every 
inch of soil surface is broken up. It is fully as 
important that the weeds just sprouting be de- 
stroyed, as that the larger ones be pulled up. One 
stroke of the weeder or the fingers will destroy a 
hundred weed seedlings in less time than one weed 
can be pulled out after it gets a good start. (4) 
Use one of the small hand-weeders until you become 
skilled with it. Not only may more work be done 
but the fingers will be saved unnecessary wear. 

The skilful use of the wheel hoe can be acquired 
through practice only. The first thing to learn is 
that it is necessary to watch the wheels only: the 
blades, disc or rakes will take care of themselves. 
Other suggestions will be found in the chapter on 
Implements. 

The operation of "hilling" consists in drawing up 



io6 Home Vegetable Gardening 

the soil about the stems of growing plants, usually 
at the time of second or third hoeing. It used to 
be the practice to hill everything that could be hilled 
*'up to the eyebrows," but it has gradually been 
discarded for what is termed "level culture"; and 
the reader will readily see the reason, from what 
has been said about the escape of moisture from 
the surface of the soil's; for of course the two upper 
sides of the hill, which may be represented by an 
equilateral triangle with one side horizontal, give 
more exposed surface than the level surface repre- 
sented by the base. In wet soils or seasons hilling 
may be advisable, but very seldom otherwise. It 
has the additional disadvantage of making it diffi- 
cult to maintain the soil mulch which is so desirable. 

ROTATION OF CROPS 

There is another thing to be considered in making 
each vegetable do its best, and that is crop rotation, 
or the following of any vegetable with a different 
sort at the next planting. 

With some vegetables, such as cabbage, this is 
almost imperative, and practically all are helped by 
it. Even onions, which are popularly supposed to 
be the proving exception to the rule, are healthier, 
and do as well after some other crop, provided the 
soil is as finely pulverized and rich as a previous 
crop of onions would leave it. 



O 

^ O 



O -M 



c c !=; 
— o 



c3 



T3 






<1J , 


03 




m ' 






03 






ere 


are 


les 






o 




ey 


Cu 






<u 




a; 


bfi 




C 


03 


u 


.2 






IS 

CO 




^03 




c 




(U 


03 




> 


C 


O 


o 


C/5 








<v 


ex 


O X 








cn 








C 




V 


c3 










po 




C 


X 




o3 


OJ 


<v 










(L) 






O 






o3 


















Blanching ccler\- in arani tile. Pnt tlie tile on a 
few weeks before the celery is wanted 



Vegetable Cultivation 107 



Here are the fundamental rules of crop rotation : 

( 1 ) Crops of the same vegetable, or vegetables of 
the same family (such as turnips and cabbage) 
should not follow each other. 

(2) Vegetables that feed near the surface, like 
corn, should follow deep-rooting crops. 

(3) Vines or leaf crops should follow root crops. 

(4) Quick-growing crops should follow those oc- 
cupying the land all season. 

These are the principles which should determine 
the rotations to be followed in individual cases. The 
proper way to attend to this matter is when making 
the planting plan (see page 18). You will then 
have time to do it properly, and will need to give it 
no further thought for a year. 

With the above suggestions in mind, and put to 
use, it will not be difficult to give the crops men- 
tioned in the following chapter those special atten- 
tions which are needed to make them do their very 
best. 



Chapter XI 



THE VEGETABLES AND THEIR SPECIAL NEEDS 



HE garden vegetables may be considered in 



three groups, in each of which the various 



varieties are given somewhat similar treat- 
ment : the root crops, such as beets and carrots ; the 
leaf crops, such as cabbage and lettuce; the fruit 
crops, such as melons and tomatoes. 



Any of these may be sowm in April, in drills (with 
the exception of potatoes) twelve to eighteen inches 
apart. The soil must be rich and finely worked, in 
order that the roots will be even and smooth — in 
poor or ill-prepared soil they are likely to be mis- 
shapen, or ''sprangling.'' They must be thinned out 
to the proper distances, w^hich should be done if pos- 
sible on a cloudy day, hand-weeded as often as may 




ROOT CROPS 



Under the first section we will consider : 
Beet Carrot Kohlrabi 

Leek Onion Parsnip 

Potato Salsify Turnip 



Cic8) 



Special Needs 



109 



be required, and given clean and frequent cultivation. 
All, with the exception of leeks and potatoes, are 
given level culture. All will be greatly benefited, 
when about one-third grown, by a top dressing of 
nitrate of soda. 

Beet: — Beets do best in a rather light soil. Those 
for earliest use are started under glass (as described 
previously) and set out six to seven inches apart in 
rows a foot apart. 

The first outdoor sowing is made as soon as the 
soil is ready in spring, and the seed should be put 
in thick, as not all will come through if bad weather 
is encountered. When thinning out, the small plants 
that are removed, tops and roots cooked together, 
make delicious greens. 

The late crop, for fall and winter use, sow the 
last part of June. For this crop the larger varieties 
are used, and on rich soil will need six to eight 
inches in the row and fifteen inches between rows. 

Carrot: — Carrots also like a soil that is rather on 
the sandy side, and on account of the depth to which 
the roots go, it should be deep and fine. The quality 
will be better if the soil is not too rich. A few for 
extra early use may be grown in the hotbeds or 
frame. If radishes and carrots are sown together, 
in alternating rows six inches apart, the former will 
be used by the time the carrots need the room, and 
in this way a single 3 x 6 ft. sash will yield a good 



no Home Vegetable Gardening 

supply for the home garden. Use Chantenay or Ox- 
Heart (see Chapter XH) for this purpose. 

The late crop is sometimes sown between rows of 
onions, skipping every third row, during June, and 
left to mature when the onions are harvested; but 
unless the ground is exceptionally free from weeds, 
the plan is not likely to prove successful. 

Kohlrabi: — While not truly a "root crop" — the 
edible portion being a peculiar globular enlargement 
of the stem — its culture is similar, as it may be sown 
in drills and thinned out. Frequently, however, it 
is started in the seed-bed and transplanted, the main 
crop (for market) being sown in May or June. A 
few of these from time to time will prove very 
acceptable for the home table. They should be used 
when quite young ; as small as two inches being the 
tenderest. 

Leek: — To attain its best the leek should be 
started in the seed-bed, late in April, and trans- 
planted in late June, to the richest, heaviest soil 
available. Hill up from time to time to blanch lower 
part of stalk ; or a few choice specimens may be had 
by fitting cardboard collars around the stem and 
drawing the earth up to these, not touching the stalk 
with earth. 

Onions: — Onions for use in the green state are 
grown from white "sets," put out early in April, 
three to four inches apart in rows twelve inches 



Special Needs 



III 



apart ; or from seed sown the previous fall and pro- 
tected with rough manure during the winter. These 
will be succeeded by the crop from "prickers" or 
seedlings started under glass in January or Feb- 
ruary. As onions are not transplanted before going 
to the garden, sow directly in the soil rather than 
in flats. It is safest to cover the bed with one-half 
inch to one inch of coarse sand, and sow the seed 
in this. To get stocky plants trim back tw^ice, taking 
off the upper half of leaves each time, and trim back 
the roots one-half to two-thirds at the time of setting 
out, which m.ay be any time after the middle of 
April. These in turn will be succeeded by onions 
coming from the crop sown from seed in the open. 

The above is for onions eaten raw in the green 
state when less than half grown. For the main crop 
for bulbs, the home supply is best grown from prick- 
ers as described above. Prize-taker and Gibraltar 
are mostly used for this purpose, growing to the size 
of the large Spanish onions sold at grocery stores. 
For onions to be kept for late winter and spring use, 
grow from seed, sowing outdoors as early as 
possible. 

No vegetable needs a richer or more perfectly pre- 
pared soil than the onion ; and especial care must be 
taken never to let the weeds get a start. They are 
gathered after the tops dry down and wither, when 
they should be pulled, put in broad rows for several 



112 Home Vegetable Gardening 

days in the sun, and then spread out flat, not more 
than four inches deep, under cover with plenty of 
light and air. Before severe freezing store in slatted 
barrels, as described in Chapter XIV. 

Parsnip: — Sow as early as possible, in deep rich 
soil, but where no water will stand during fall and 
winter. The seed germinates very slowly, so the 
seed-bed should be very finely prepared. They will 
be ready for use in the fall, but are much better 
after the first frosts. For method of keeping see 
Chapter XIV. 

Potato: — If your garden is a small one, buy your 
main supply of potatoes from some nearby farmer, 
first trying half a bushel or so to be sure of the 
quality. Purchase in late September or October 
when the crop is being dug and the price is low. 

For an extra early and choice supply for the home 
garden, start a peck or so in early March, as follows : 
Select an early variety, seed of good size and clean; 
cut to pieces containing one or two eyes, and pack 
closely together on end in flats of coarse sand. Give 
these full light and heat, and by the middle to end 
of April they will have formed dense masses of 
roots, and nice, strong, stocky sprouts, well leaved 
out. Dig out furrows two and a half feet apart, and 
incorporate well rotted manure in the bottom, with 
the soil covering this until the furrow is left two to 
three inches deep. Set the sprouted tubers, pressing 



Special Needs 



firmly into the soil, about twelve inches apart, and 
cover in, leaving them thus three to four inches 
below the surface. Keep well cultivated, give a light 
top dressing of nitrate of soda — and surprise all 
your neighbors ! This system has not yet come ex- 
tensively into use, but is practically certain of 
producing excellent results. 

For the main crop, if you have room, cut good 
seed to one or two eyes, leaving as much of the tuber 
as possible to each piece, and plant thirteen inches 
apart in rows three feet apart. Cultivate deeply 
until the plants are eight to ten inches high and then 
shallow but frequently. As the vines begin to 
spread, hill up moderately, making a broad, low 
ridge. Handle potato-bugs and blight as directed in 
Chapter XIII (page i66). For harvesting see 
Chapter XIV. 

While big crops may be grown on heavy soils, 
the quality will be very much better on sandy, well 
drained soils. Planting on well rotted sod, or after 
green manuring, such as clover or rye, will also im- 
prove the looks and quality of the crop. Like onions, 
they need a high percentage of potash in manures 
or fertilizers used ; this may be given in sulphate of 
potash. Avoid planting on ground enriched with 
fresh barnyard manure or immediately after a dress- 
ing of lime. 

Salsify: — The "vegetable oyster," or salsify, is 
s 



114 Home Vegetable Gardening 

to my taste the most delicious root vegetable grown. 
It is handled practically in the same way as the 
parsnip, but needs, if possible, ground even more 
carefully prepared, in order to keep the main root 
from sprangling. If a fine light soil cannot be had 
for planting, it will pay to hoe or hand-plow furrows 
where the drills are to be — not many will be needed, 
and put in specially prepared soil, in which the seed 
may get a good start. 

Radish: — To be of good crisp quality, it is essen- 
tial with radishes to grow them just as quickly as 
possible. The soil should be rather sandy and not 
rich in fresh manure or other nitrogenous fertilizers, 
as this tends to produce an undesirable amount of 
leaves at the expense of the root. If the ground is 
at all dry give a thorough wetting after planting, 
which may be on the surface, as the seeds germinate 
so quickly that they will be up before the soil has 
time to crust over. Gypsum or land-plaster, sown 
on white and worked into the soil, will improve both 
crop and quality. They are easily raised under 
glass, in autumn or spring in frames, requiring only 
forty to fifty degrees at night. It is well to plant 
in the hotbed, after a crop of lettuce. Or sow as a 
double crop, as suggested under Carrots. For out- 
side crops, sow every ten days or two weeks. 

Turnip: — While turnips will thrive well on almost 
any soil, the quality — which is somewhat question- 



Inviting blight and fruit-rot. For sure results and the best 
specimens of fruit, always tie tomatoes up 




Special Needs 



115 



able at the best — will be much better on sandy or 
even gravelly soil. Avoid fresh manures as much 
as possible, as the turnip is especially susceptible to 
scab and v^orms. They are best when quite small 
and for the home table a succession of sowing, only 
a few at a time, will give the best results. 



Under leaf crops are considered also those of 
which the stalk or the flower heads form the edible 
portion, such as celery and cauliflower. 

Asparagus Brussels Sprouts Cabbage 



The quality of all these will depend largely upon 
growing them rapidly and without check from the 
seed-bed to the table. They are all great nitrogen- 
consumers and therefore take kindly to liberal sup- 
plies of yard manure, which is high in nitrogen. 
For celery the manure is best applied to some pre- 
ceding crop, such as early cabbage. The others will 
take it "straight." Most of these plants are best 
started under glass or in the seed-bed and trans- 
planted later to permanent positions. They will all 
be helped greatly by a top-dressing of nitrate of 
soda, worked into the soil as soon as they have 
become established. This, if it fails to produce the 



LEAF CROPS 



Cauliflower 

Kale 

Rhubarb 



Celery 

Lettuce 

Spinach 



Endive 
Parsley 



ii6 Home Vegetable Gardening 

dark green healthy growth characteristic of its pres- 
ence, should be followed by a second application 
after two or three weeks — care being taken, of 
course, to use it with reason and restraint, as 
directed in Chapter VI. 

Another method of growing good cabbages and 
similar plants, where the ground is not sufficiently 
rich to carry the crop through, is to "manure in the 
hill," either yard or some concentrated manure being 
used. If yard manure, incorporate a good forkful 
with the soil where each plant is to go. (If any 
considerable number are being set, it will of course 
be covered in a furrow — first being trampled down, 
with the plow). Another way, sure of producing 
results, and not inconvenient for a few hundred 
plants, is to mark out the piece, dig out with a spade 
or hoe a hole some five inches deep at each mark, 
dilute poultry manure in an old pail until about the 
consistency of thick mud, and put a little less than 
half a trowelful in each hole. Mix with the soil 
and cover, marking the spot with the back of the 
hoe, and then set the plants. By this method, fol- 
lowed by a top-dressing of nitrate of soda, I have 
repeatedly grown fine cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce 
and sprouts. Cotton-seed meal is also very valuable 
for manuring in the hill — about a handful to a plant, 
as it is rich in nitrogen and rapidly decomposes. 

The cabbage group is sometimes hilled up, but if 



Tomato "tables" result in heavier vines and tomatoes free 
from rot or blemish 




Your garden will be several days earlier for a shelter on 
the northern exposure 



Special Needs 



117 



set well down and frequently cultivated, on most 
soils this will not be necessary. They all do best 
in very deep, moderately heavy soil, heavily ma- 
nured and rather moist. An application of lime 
some time before planting will be a beneficial pre- 
caution. With this group rotation also is almost 
imperative. (See page 106.) 

The most troublesome enemies attacking these 
plants are: the flea-beetle, the cabbage-worm, the 
cabbage-maggot (root) and "club-root"; directions 
for fighting all of which will be found in the follow- 
ing chapter. 

Asparagus: — Asparagus is rightly esteemed one 
of the very best spring vegetables. There is a gen- 
eral misconception, however — due to the old meth- 
ods of growing it — concerning the difficulty of hav- 
ing a home supply. As now cared for, it is one of 
the easiest of all vegetables to grow, when once the 
beds are set and brought to bearing condition. Nor 
is it difficult to make the bed, and the only reason 
why asparagaus is not more universally found in 
the home garden, beside that mentioned above, is 
because one has to wait a year for results. 

In selecting a spot for the asparagus bed, pick 
out the earliest and best drained soil available, even 
if quite sandy it will do well. Plow or dig out 
trenches three feet apart and sixteen to twenty inches 
deep. In the bottoms of these tramp down firmly 



ii8 Home Vegetable Gardening 



six to eight inches of old, thoroughly rotted manure. 
Cover with six to eight inches of good soil — not that 
coming from the bottom of the trench — and on this 
set the crowns or root-clumps — preferably one-year 
ones — being careful to spread the roots out evenly, 
and covering with enough soil to hold in position, 
making them firm in the soil. The roots are set one 
foot apart. Then fill in level, thus leaving the 
crowns four to six inches below the surface. As the 
stalks appear give a light dressing of nitrate of soda 
and keep the crop cleanly cultivated. (Lettuce, beets, 
beans or any of the small garden vegetables may be 
grown between the asparagus rows during the first 
part of the season, for the first two years, thus get- 
ting some immediate return from labor and ma- 
nure) . The stalks should not be cut until the second 
spring after planting and then only very lightly. 
After that full crops may be had. 

After the first season, besides keeping cleanly cul- 
tivated at all times, in the fall clear off and burn all 
tops and weeds and apply a good coating of manure. 
Dig or lightly cultivate this in the spring, applying 
also a dressing of nitrate of soda, as soon as the 
stalks appear. If the yield is not heavy, give a 
dressing of bone or of the basic fertilizers mentioned 
on page 53. It is not difficult to grow plants from 
seed, but is generally more satisfactory to get the 
roots from some reliable seedsman. 



Sow kale for use in fall and winter when greens 
are scarce. Frost only improves it 




Seedlings of Prizetaker onions, vi.irn il in com- 
post covered with one inch of sand. The large 
onions are from previous year's crop, started in 
the same way. They were prize-takers at 
several local fairs 



Special Needs 



119 



Broccoli: — The broccoli makes a flower bead as 
does the cauHflower. It is, however, inferior in 
quaHty and is not grown to any extent where the 
latter will succeed. It has the one advantage of 
being hardier and thus can be grown where the cau- 
liflower is too uncertain to make its culture worth 
while. For culture directions see Cauliflower. 

Brussels Sprouts: — In my opinion this vegetable 
leaves the cabbage almost as far behind as the cauli- 
flower does. It is, if anything, more easily grown 
than cabbage, except that the young plants do not 
seem able to stand quite so much cold. When ma- 
ture, however, it seems to stand almost any amount 
of freezing, and it is greatly improved by a few 
smart frosts, although it is very good when succeed- 
ing the spring crop of cauliflower. It takes longer 
to mature than either cabbage or cauliflower. 

Cabbage: — Cabbage is one of the few vegetables 
which may be had in almost as good quality from 
the green-grocer as it can be grown at home, and as 
it takes up considerable space, it may often be advis- 
able to omit the late sorts from the home garden if 
space is very limited. ■ The early supply, however, 
should come from the garden — some people think it 
should stay there, but I do not agree with them. 
Properly cooked it is a very delicious vegetable. 

What has already been said (page 115) covers 
largely the conditions for successful culture. The 



I20 Home Vegetable Gardening 

soil should be of the richest and deepest, and well 
dressed with lime. 

Lettuce is grown with advantage between the 
rows of early cabbage, and after both are harvested 
the ground is used for celery. The early varieties 
may be set as closely as eighteen inches in the row, 
and twenty-four between rows. The lettuce is taken 
out before the row is needed. 

The late crop is started in the outside seed-bed 
about June ist to 15th. It will help give better 
plants to cut back the tops once or twice during 
growth, and an occasional good soaking in dry 
weather w^ll prove very beneficial. They are set 
in the field during July, and as it often is very dry 
at this time, those extra precautions mentioned in 
directions for setting out plants, in the preceding 
chapter, should be taken. If the newly set plants 
are dusted with wood ashes, it w^ill be a wise pre- 
caution against insect pests. 

Cauliflower: — The cauliflower is easily the queen 
of the cabbage group : also it is the most difficult 
to raise, (i) It is the most tender and should not 
be set out quite so early. (2) It is even a ranker 
feeder than the cabbage, and just before heading up 
will be greatly improved by applications of liquid 
manure. (3) It must have water, and unless the 
soil is a naturally damp one, irrigation, either by 
turning the hose on between the rows, or directly 



Special Needs 



121 



around the plants, must be given — two or three times 
should be sufficient. (4) The heads must be pro- 
tected from the sun. This is accomplished by tying 
up the points of leaves, so as to form a tent, or 
breaking them (snap the mid-rib only), and folding 
them down over the flower. (5) They must be 
used as soon as ready, for they deteriorate very 
quickly. Take them while the head is still solid and 
firm, before the little flower tips begin to open out. 

Celery: — This is another favorite vegetable which 
has a bad reputation to live down. They used to 
plant it at the bottom of a twelve-inch trench and 
spend all kinds of unnecessary labor over it. It can 
be grown perfectly well on the level and in the 
average home garden. 

As to soil, celery prefers a moist one, but it must 
be well drained. The home supply can, however, be 
grown in the ordinary garden, especially if water 
may be had in case of injurious drouth. 

For the early crop the best sorts are the White 
Plume and Golden Self-blanching. Seed is sown in 
the last part of February or first part of March. 
The seed is very fine and the greatest pains must be 
taken to give the best possible treatment. The seed 
should be pressed into the soil and barely covered 
with very light soil — half sifted leaf-mould or moss. 
Never let the boxes dry out, and as soon as the 
third or fourth leaf comes, transplant ; cut back the 



122 Home Vegetable Gardening 

outside leaves, and set as deeply as possible without 
covering the crown. The roots also, if long, should 
be cut back. This trimming of leaves and roots 
should be given at each transplanting, thus assuring 
a short stocky growth. 

Culture of the early crop, after setting out, is 
easier than that for the winter crop. There are 
two system : ( i ) The plants are set in rows three or 
four feet apart, six inches in the row, and blanched, 
either by drawing up the earth in a hill and working 
it in about the stalks with the fingers (this operation 
is termed ''handling"), or else by the use of boards 
laid on edge along the rows, on either side. (2) 
The other method is called the ''new celery culture," 
and in it the plants are set in beds eight inches apart 
each way (ten or twelve inches for large varieties), 
the idea being to make the tops of the plants supply 
the shade for the blanching. This method has two 
disadvantages : it requires extra heavy manuring 
and preparation of soil, and plenty of moisture ; and 
even with this aid the stalks never attain the size 
of those grown in rows. The early crop should be 
ready in August. The quality is never so good as 
that of the later crops. 

For the main or winter crop, sow the seed about 
April 1st. The same extra care must be taken as in 
sowing under glass. In hot, dry weather, shade the 
beds ; never let them dry out. Transplant to second 



Special Needs 



123 



bed as soon as large enough to develop root system, 
before setting in the permanent position. 

When setting in late June or July, be sure to put 
the plants in up to the hearts, not over, and set 
firmly. Give level clean culture until about August 
15th, when, with the hoe, wheel hoe or cultivator, 
earth should be drawn up along the rows, followed 
by ''handling." The plants for early use are 
trenched (see Chapter XIV), but that left for late 
use must be banked up, which is done by making 
the hills higher still, by the use of the spade (or 
see illustration facing p. 107). For further 
treatment see Chapter XIV. 

Care must be taken not to perform any work in 
the celery patch while the plants are wet. 

Corn salad or Fefticiis: — This salad plant is not 
largely grown. It is planted about the middle of 
April and given the same treatment as spinach. 

Chicory: — This also is little grown. The Wit- 
loof, a kind now being used, is however much more 
desirable. Sow in drills, thin to five or six inches, 
and in August or September, earth up, as with early 
celery, to blanch the stalks, which are used for 
salads, or boiled. Cut-back roots, planted in boxes 
of sand placed in a moderately warm dark place and 
watered, send up a growth of tender leaves, making 
a fine salad. 

Chervil: — Curled chervil is grown the same as 



124 Home Vegetable Gardening 

parsley and used for garnishing or seasoning. The 
root variety resembles the stump-rooted carrot, the 
quality being improved by frost. Sow in April 
or September. Treat like parsnip. 

Gives: — Leaves are used for imparting an onion 
flavor. A clump of roots set out will last many 
years. 

Cress: — Another salad little grown in the home 
garden. To many, however, its spicy, pungent 
flavor is particularly pleasing. It is easily grown, 
but should be planted frequently — about every two 
weeks. Sow in drills, twelve to fourteen inches 
apart. Its only special requirement is moisture. 
Water is not necessary, but if a bed can be started 
in some clean stream or pool, it will take care of 
itself. 

Upland cress or "pepper grass" grows in ordinary 
garden soil, being one of the very first salads. Sow 
in April, in drills twelve or fourteen inches apart. 
It grows so rapidly that it may be had in five or 
six weeks. Sow frequently for succession, as it 
runs to seed very quickly. 

Chard: — See Spinach. 

Dandelion: — This is an excellent "greens," but as 
the crop is not ready until second season from plant- 
ing it is not grown as much as it should be. Sow 
the seed in April — very shallow. It is well to put in 
with it a few lettuce or turnip seed to mark the rows. 



Special Needs 



Drills should be one foot apart, and plants thinned 
to eight to twelve inches. 

The quality is infinitely superior to the wild dan- 
delion and may be still further improved by blanch- 
ing. If one is content to take a small crop, a cutting 
may be made in the fall, the same season as the 
sowing. 

Endive: — This salad vegetable is best for fall use. 
Sow in June or July, in drills eighteen to twenty- 
four inches apart, and thin to ten to twelve inches. 
To be fit for use it must be blanched, either by tying 
up with raffia in a loose bunch, or by placing two 
wide boards in an inverted V shape over the rows ; 
and in either case be sure the leaves are dry when 
doing this. 

Kale: — Kale is a non-heading member of the cab- 
bage group, used as greens, both in spring and 
winter. It is improved by frost, but even then is a 
little tough and heavy. Its chief merit lies in the 
fact that it is easily had when greens of the better 
sorts are hard to get, as it may be left out and cut 
as needed during winter — even from under snow. 
The fall crop is given the same treatment as late 
cabbage. Siberian kale is sown in September and 
wintered-over like spinach. 

Lettuce: — Lettuce is grown in larger quantities 
than all the other salad plants put together. By the 
use of hotbeds it may be had practically the year 



126 Home Vegetable Gardening 

round. The first sowing for the spring under-glass 
crop is made in January or February. These are 
handled as for the planting outside — see Chapter 
VIII. — ^but are set in the frames six to eight inches 
each way, according to variety. Ventilate freely 
during the day when over 55° give 45° at night. 
Water only when needed, but then thoroughly, and 
preferably only on mornings of bright sunny days. 

The plants for first outdoor crops are handled as 
already described. After April ist planting should 
be made every two weeks. During July and August 
the seed-beds must be kept shaded and mioist. In 
August, first sowing for fall under-glass crop is 
m.ade, which can be matured in coldframes; later 
sowings going into hotbeds. 

In quality, I consider the hard-heading varieties 
superior to the loose-heading sorts, but of course 
that is a matter of taste. The former is best for 
crops maturing from the middle of June until Sep- 
tember, the latter for early and late sowings, as they 
mature more quickly. The cos type is good for sum- 
mer growing but should be tied up to blanch well. 
To be at its best, lettuce should be grown very rap- 
idly, and the use of top-dressings of nitrate are par- 
ticularly beneficial with this crop. The ground 
should be light, warm, and very rich, and cultivation 
shallow but frequent. 

Mushroom: — While the mushroom is not a gar- 



Special Needs 



127 



den crop, strictly speaking, still it is one of the most 
delicious of all vegetables for the home table, and 
though space does not permit a long description of 
the several details of its culture, I shall try to include 
all the essential points as succinctly as possible. ( i ) 
The place for the bed may be found in any sheltered, 
dry spot — cellar, shed or greenhouse — where an 
even temperature of 53 to 58 degrees can be main- 
tained and direct sunlight excluded. (Complete 
darkness is not necessary; it is frequently so con- 
sidered, but only because in dark places the tempera- 
ture and moisture are apt to remain more even.) 
(2) The material is fresh horse-manure, from 
which the roughest of the straw has been shaken out. 
This is stacked in a compact pile and trampled — 
wetting down if at all dry — to induce fermentation. 
This process must be repeated four or five times, 
care being required never to let the heap dry out and 
burn; time for re-stacking being indicated by the 
heap's stearning. At the second or third turning, 
add about one-fifth, in bulk, of light loam. (3) 
When the heat of the pile no longer rises above 100 
to 125 degrees (as indicated by a thermometer) put 
into the beds, tramping or beating very firmly, until 
about ten inches deep. When the temperature re- 
cedes to 90 degrees, put in the spawn. Each brick 
will make a dozen or so pieces. Put these in three 
inches deep, and twelve by nine inches apart, cover- 



128 Home Vegetable Gardening 

ing lightly. Then beat down the surface evenly. 
After eight days, cover with two inches of light 
loam, firmly compacted. This may be covered with 
a layer of straw or other light material to help 
maintain an even degree of moisture, but should be 
removed as soon as the mushrooms begin to appear. 
Water only when the soil is very dry ; better if water 
is warmed to about 60 degrees. When gathering 
never leave stems in the bed as they are likely to 
breed maggots. The crop should appear in six to 
eight weeks after spawning the bed. 

Parsley: — This very easily grown little plant 
should have at least a row or two in the seed-bed 
devoted to it. For use during winter, a box or a 
few pots may be filled with cut-back roots and given 
moderate temperature and moisture. If no frames 
are on hand, the plants usually will do well in a 
sunny window. 

Parsley seed is particularly slow in germinating. 
Use a few seeds of turnip or carrot to indicate the 
rows, and have the bed very finely prepared. 

Rhubarb: — This is another of the standard vege- 
tables which no home garden should be without. 
For the bed pick out a spot where the roots can stay 
without interfering with the plowing and working 
of the garden—next the asparagus bed, if in a good 
early location, will be as good as any. One short 
row v/ill supply a large family. 



Special Needs 



129 



The bed is set either with roots or young plants, 
the former being the usual method. The ground 
should first be made as deep and rich as possible. 
If poor, dig out the rows, which should be four or 
five feet apart, to a depth of two feet or more and 
work in a foot of good manure, refilling with the 
best of the soil excavated. Set the roots about four 
feet apart in the row, the crowns being about four 
inches below the surface. No stalks should be cut 
the first season ; after that they will bear abundantly 
many years. 

In starting from seed, sow in March in frames or 
outside in April; when well along — about the first 
of June — set out in rows, eighteen by twelve inches. 
By the following April they will be ready for their 
permanent position. 

Manuring in the fall, as with asparagus, to be 
worked in in the spring, is necessary for good re- 
sults. I know of no crop which so quickly responds 
to liberal dressings of nitrate of soda, applied first 
just as growth starts in in the spring. The seed 
stalks should be broken off as fast as they appear, 
until late in the season. 

Sea-Kale: — When better known in this country, 
sea-kale will be given a place beside the asparagus 
and rhubarb, for, like them, it may be used year after 
year. Many believe it superior in quality to either 
asparagus or cauliflower. 

9 



ijo Home Vegetable Gardening 



It is grown from either seed or pieces of the root, 
the former method, being probably the more satis- 
factory. Sow in April, in drills fourteen inches 
apart, thinning to five or six. Transplant in the fol- 
lowing spring as described for rhubarb — but setting 
three feet apart each way. In the fall, after the 
leaves have fallen — and every succeeding fall — cover 
each crown with a shovelful of clean sand and 
then about eighteen inches of earth, dug out from 
between the rows. This is to blanch the spring 
growth. After cutting, shovel off the earth and sand 
and enrich with manure for the following season's 
growth. 

Spinach: — For the first spring crop of this good 
and wholesome vegetable, the seed is sown in Sep- 
tember, and carried over with a protection of hay 
or other rough litter. Crops for summer and fall 
are sown in sucessive plantings from April on. Long- 
standing being the best sort to sow after about ]\Iay 
15th. Seed of the New Zealand spinach should be 
soaked several hours in hot water, before being 
planted. 

For the home garden. I believe that the Swiss 
chard beet is destined to be more popular, as it 
becomes known, than any of the spinaches. It is 
sown in successive plantings from April on, but 
will yield leaves all season long ; they are cut close 
to the soil, and in an almost incredibly short time 



Special Needs 



the roots have thrown up a new crop, the amount 
taken during the season being wonderful. 

Spinach wants a strong and very rich soil, and 
dressings of nitrate show good results. 

THE FRUIT CROPS 

Under this heading are included : 
Bean, dwarf Bean, pole Corn Cucumber 
Egg-plant Melon, musk Melon, water Okra 
Peas Pepper Pumpkins Squash 

Tomato 

Most of these vegetables differ from both the pre- 
ceding groups in two important ways. First of all, 
the soil should not be made too rich, especially in 
nitrogenous manures, such as strong fresh yard- 
manure; although light dressings of nitrate of soda 
are often of great help in giving them a quick start 
— as when setting out in the field. Second, they 
are warm-weather loving plants, and nothing is 
gained by attempting to sow or set out the plants 
until all danger from late frosts is over, and the 
ground is well warmed up. (Peas, of course, are an 
exception to this rule, and to some extent the early 
beans.) Third, they require much more room and 
are grown for the most part in hills. 

Light, warm, ''quick,'' sandy to gravelly soils, and 
old, fine, well rotted manure — applied generally in 



132 Home Vegetable Gardening 



the hill besides that plowed under, make the best 
combination for results. Such special hills are pre- 
pared by marking off, digging out the soil to the 
depth of eight to ten inches, and eighteen inches to 
two feet square, and incorporating several forkfuls 
of the compost. A little guano, or better still cotton- 
seed meal, say ^ to i gill of the former, or a gill 
of the latter, mixed with the compost when putting 
into the hill, will also be very good. Hills to be 
planted early should be raised an inch or two above 
the surface, unless they are upon sloping ground. 

The greatest difificulty in raising all the vine 
fruits — melons, etc. — is in successfully combating 
their insect enemies — the striped beetle, the borer 
and the flat, black "stink-bug," being the worst of 
these. Remedies will be suggested in the next chap- 
ter. But for the home garden, where only a few 
hills of each will be required, by far the easiest and 
the only sure way of fighting them will be by pro- 
tecting with bottomless boxes, large enough to cover 
the hills, and covered with mosquito netting, or 
better, "plant-protecting cloth," which has the addi- 
tional merit of giving the hills an early start. These 
boxes may be easily made of one-half by eight-inch 
boards, or from ordinary cracker-boxes, such as used 
for making flats. Plants so protected in the earlier 
stages of growth will usually either not be attacked, 
or will, with the assistance of the remedies described 



Special Needs 



133 



in the following chapter, be able to withstand the 
insect's visits. 

Beans, dwarf: — Beans are one of the most widely 
liked of all garden vegetables — and one of the most 
easily grown. They are very particular about only 
one thing — not to have a heavy wet soil. The dwarf 
or bush sorts are planted in double or single drills, 
eighteen to twenty-four inches apart, and for the 
first sowing not much over an inch deep. Later 
plantings should go in two to three inches deep, 
according to soil. Ashes or some good mixed fer- 
tilizer high in potash, applied and well mixed in at 
time of planting, will be very useful. 

As the plants gain size they should be slightly 
hilled — to help hold the stalks up firmly. Never 
work over or pick from the plants while they are 
wet. The dwarf limas should not be planted until 
ten to fourteen days later than the early sorts. Be 
sure to put them in edgeways, with the eye down, 
and when there is no prospect of immediate rain, 
or the whole planting is fairly sure to be lost. 

Beans, pole: — The pole varieties should not go in 
until about the time for the limas. Plant in specially 
prepared hills (see above) ten to twenty seeds, and 
when well up thin, leaving three to five. Poles are 
best set when preparing the hills. A great improve- 
ment over the old-fashioned pole is made by nailing 
building laths firmly across 2 x 3-in. posts seven or 



134 Home Vegetable Gardening 



eight feet high (see illustration). To secure extra 
early pods on the poles pinch back the vines at five 
feet high. 

Corn: — For extra early ears, corn may easily be 
started on sod, as directed for cucumbers. Be sure, 
however, not to get into the open until danger from 
frost is over — usually at least ten days after it is 
safe for the first planting, which is seldom made 
before May ist. Frequent, shallow cultivation is a 
prime necessity in growing this crop. When well 
up, thin to four stalks to a hill — usually five to 
seven kernels being planted. A slight hilling when 
the tassels appear will be advisable. Plant fre- 
quently for succession crops. The last sowing may 
be made as late as the first part of July if the seed 
is well firmed in, to assure immediate germination. 
Sweet corn for the garden is frequently planted in 
drills, about three feet apart, and thinning to ten 
to twelve inches. 

Cucumber: — This universal favorite is easily 
grown if the striped beetle is held at bay. For the 
earliest fruits start on sod in the frames : Cut out 
sods four to six inches square, where the grass indi- 
cates rich soil. Pack close together in the frame, 
grass side down, and push seven or eight seeds into 
each, firmly enough to be held in place, covering with 
about one and a half inches of light soil ; water thor- 
oughly and protect with glass or cloth, taking care 



Special Needs 



135 



to ventilate, as described in Chapter VIII. Set out 

in prepared hills after danger of frost is over. 

Outside crop is planted directly in the hills, using 
a dozen or more seeds and thinning to three or four. 

Egg-plant: — The egg-plant is always started un- 
der glass, for the Northern States, and should be 
twice transplanted, the second time into pots, to be 
of the best size when put out. This should not be 
until after tomatoes are set, as it is perhaps the 
tenderest of all garden vegetables as regards heat. 
The soil should be very rich and as moist as can be 
selected. If dry, irrigating will be necessary. This 
should not be delayed until the growth becomes 
stunted, as sudden growth then induced is likely to 
cause the fruit to crack. 

Watch for potato-bugs on your egg-plants. They 
seem to draw these troublesome beetles as a magnet 
does iron filings, and I have seen plants practically 
ruined by them in one day. As they seem to know 
there will not be time to eat the whole fruit they 
take pains to eat into the stems. The only sure 
remedy is to knock them off with a piece of shingle 
into a pan of water and kerosene. Egg-plants are 
easily burned by Paris green, and that standard 
remedy cannot be so effectively used as on other 
crops; hellebore or arsenate of lead is good. As 
the season of growth is very limited, it is advisable, 
besides having the plants as well developed as 



136 Home Vegetable Gardening 

possible when set out, to give a quick start with 
cotton-seed meal or nitrate, and liquid manure 
later is useful, as they are gross feeders. The 
fruits are ready to eat from the size of a turkey 
egg to complete development. 

Melon, musk : — The culture of this delicious vege- 
table is almost identical with that of the cucumber. 
If anything it is more particular about having light 
soil. If put in soil at all heavy, at the time of 
preparing the hill, add sand and leaf-mould to the 
compost, the hills made at least three feet square, 
and slightly raised. This method is also of use in 
planting the other vine crops. 

Melon, water: — In the warm Southern States 
watermelons may be grown cheaply, and they are so 
readily shipped that in the small home gardens it 
will not pay to grow them, for they take up more 
space than any other vegetable, with the exception 
of winter squash. The one advantage of growing 
them, where there is room, is that better quality than 
that usually to be bought may be obtained. Give 
them the hottest spot in the garden and a sandy 
quick soil. Use a variety recommended for your 
particular climate. Give the same culture as for 
musk melon, except that the hill should be at least 
six to ten feet apart each way. By planting near 
the edge of the garden, and pinching back the vines, 
room may be saved and the ripening up of the crop 
made more certain. 



Special Needs 



137 



Okra: — Although the okra makes a very strong- 
plant — and incidentally is one of the most orna- 
mental of all garden vegetables — the seed is quickly 
rotted by wet or cold. Sow not earlier than May 
25th, in warm soil, planting thinly in drills, about 
one and a half inches deep, and thinning to a foot 
or so ; cultivate as with corn in drills. All pods not 
used for soup or stems during summer may be dried 
and used in winter. 

Peas: — With care in making successive sowings, 
peas may be had during a long season. The earliest, 
smooth varieties are planted in drills twelve to 
eighteen inches apart, early in April. These are, 
however, of very inferior quality compared to the 
wrinkled sorts, which may now be had practically 
as early as the others. With the market gardener, 
the difference of a few days in the maturing of the 
crop is of a great deal more importance than the 
quality, but for the home garden the opposite is 
true. 

Another method of planting the dwarf-growing 
kinds is to make beds of four rows, six to eight 
inches apart, with a two-foot alley between beds. 
The tall-growing sorts must be supported by brush 
or in other ways ; and are put about four feet apart 
in double rows, six inches apart. The early varieties 
if sown in August will usually mature a good fall 
crop. The early plantings should be made in light, 



138 Home Vegetable Gardening 

dry soil and but one inch deep; the later ones in 
deep loam. In neither case should the ground be 
made too rich, especially in nitrogen; and it should 
not be wet when the seed is planted. 

Pepper: — A dozen pepper plants will give abund- 
ance of pods for the average family. The varieties 
have been greatly improved within recent years in 
the quality of mildness. 

The culture recommended for egg-plant is ap- 
plicable also to the pepper. The main difference is 
that, although the pepper is very tender when young, 
the crop maturing in the autumn will not be injured 
by considerable frost. 

Pumpkin: — The ''sugar" or *'pie" varieties of the 
pumpkin are the only ones used in garden culture, 
and these only where there is plenty of ground for 
all other purposes. The culture is the same as that 
for late squashes, which follows. 

Squash: — For the earliest squash the bush varie- 
ties of Scallop are used ; to be followed by the sum- 
mer Crookneck and other summer varieties, best 
among which are the Fordhook and Delicata. For 
all, hills should be prepared as described at the 
beginning of this section and in addition it is well 
to mix with manure a shovelful of coal ashes, used 
to keep away the borer, to the attack of which 
the squash is particularly liable. The cultivation is 
the same as that used for melons or cucumbers. 



Special Needs-'^^^ 139 

except that the hills for the winter sorts must be 
at least eight feet apart and they are often put 
twelve. 

Tomato: — For the earliest crop, tomatoes are 
started about March ist. They should be twice 
transplanted, and for best results the second trans- 
planting should be put into pots — or into the frames, 
setting six to eight inches each way. They are not 
set out until danger of frost is over, and the ground 
should not be too rich; old manure used in the hill, 
with a dressing of nitrate at setting out, or a few 
days after, will give them a good start. According 
to variety, they are set three to five feet apart — four 
feet, where staking or trellising is given, as it 
should always be in garden culture, will be as 
much as the largest-growing plants require. It will 
pay well, both for quality and quantity of fruit, to 
keep most of the suckers cut or rubbed off. The 
ripening of a few fruits may be hastened by tying 
paper bags over the bunches, or by picking and 
ripening on a board in the hot sun. For ripening 
fruit after frost see Chapter XIV. 

A sharp watch should be kept for the large green 
tomato-worm, which is almost exactly the color of 
the foliage. His presence may first be noticed by 
fruit and leaves eaten. Hand-picking is the best 
remedy. Protection must be made against the cut- 
worm in localities where he works. 



I40 Home Vegetable Gardening 



All the above, of course, will be considered in con- 
nection with the tabulated information as to dates, 
depths and distances for sowing, quantities, etc., 
given in the table on page 25, and is supplemented 
by the information about insects, diseases and har- 
vesting given in Chapters XIII and XIV, and espe- 
cially in the Chapter on Varieties which follows, and 
which is given separately from the present chapter 
in order that the reader may the more readily make 
out a list, when planning his garden or making up 
his order sheet for the seedsman. 





cn 


cn 




o 


<L) 


CJ 






.s 




cn 


ky 


cn 




O 

a 


<j 






|3 






cn 


Ker 


arie 
Try 


or 




> 




M-H 










an 


v 




tn 
















"o 
















O 








a 








<U 








u 


ea 


ea 


be 


03 




cn 


C 


cn 




C 


o 
B 








< 


<U 
'O 


5 





-t-> 03 ^ 

o3 ^ rt tn 

- S S 

— I r> ^ (U 



03 

cn (ij 



o3 O 



Chapter XII 



BEST VARIETIES OF THE GARDEN VEGETABLES 

IT is my purpose in this chapter to assist the 
gardener of Hmited experience to select varie- 
ties sure to give satisfaction. 
To the man or woman planning a garden for the 
first time there is no one thing more confusing than 
the selection of the best varieties. This in spite of 
the fact that catalogues should be, and might be, a 
great help instead of almost an actual hindrance. 

I suppose that seedsmen consider extravagance in 
catalogues, both in material and language, necessary, 
or they would not go to the limit in expense for 
printing and mailing, as they do. But from the 
point of view of the gardener, and especially of the 
beginner, it is to be regretted that w^e cannot have 
the plain unvarnished truth about varieties, for 
surely the good ones are good enough to use up all 
the legitimate adjectives upon which seedsmen 
would care to pay postage. But such is not the case. 
Every season sees the introduction of literally hun- 
dreds of new varieties — or, as is m.ore often the case, 

(141) 



142 Home Vegetable Gardening 

old varieties under new names — which have actually 
no excuse for being unloaded upon the public except 
that they will give a larger profit to the seller. Of 
course, in a way, it is the fault of the public for pay- 
ing the fancy prices asked — that is, that part of the 
public which does not know. Commercial planters 
and experienced gardeners stick to well known sorts. 
New varieties are tried, if at all, by the packet only 
— and then *'on suspicion." 

In practically every instance the varieties men- 
tioned have been grown by the author, but his re- 
commendations are by no means based upon personal 
experience alone. Wherever introductions of recent 
years have proved to be actual improvements upon 
older varieties, they are given in preference to the 
old, which are, of course, naturally much better 
known. 

It is impossible for any person to pick out this, 
that or the other variety of a vegetable and label it 
unconditionally ''the best." But the person who 
wants to save time in making out his seed list can 
depend upon the following to have been widely 
tested, and to have ''made good." 

Asparagus: — While there are enthusiastic claims 
put forth for several of the different varieties of 
asparagus, as far as I have seen any authentic rec- 
ord of tests (Bulletin 173, N. J. Agr. Exp. Station), 
the prize goes to Palmetto, which gave twenty-eight 



Vegetable Varieties 



143 



per cent, more than its nearest rival, Donald's El- 
mira. Big yield alone is frequently no recommen- 
dation of a vegetable to the home gardener, but in 
this instance it does make a big difference ; first, be- 
cause Palmetto is equal to any other asparagus in 
quality, and second, because the asparagus bed is 
producing only a few weeks during the gardening 
season, and where ground is limited, as in most 
home gardens, it is important to cut this waste space 
down as much as possible. This is for beds kept 
in good shape and highly fed. Barr's Mammoth 
will probably prove more satisfactory if the bed 
is apt to be more or less neglected, for the reason 
that under such circumstances it will make thicker 
stalks than the Palmetto. 

Beans {dwarf): — Of the dwarf beans there are 
three general types : the early round-podded "string" 
beans, the stringless round-pods, and the usually 
more flattish "wax" beans. For first early, the old 
reliable Extra Early Red Valentine remains as 
good as any sort I have ever tried. In good strains 
of this variety the pods have very slight strings, and 
they are very fleshy. It makes only a small bush 
and is fairly productive and of good quality. The 
care-taking planter, however, will put in only enough 
of these first early beans to last a week or ten days, 
as the later sorts are more prolific and of better qual- 
ity. Burpee's Stringless Greenpod is a good second 



144 Home Vegetable Gardening 

early. It is larger, finer, stringless even when ma- 
ture, and of exceptionally handsome appearance. Im- 
proved Refugee is the most prolific of the green- 
pods, and the best of them for quality, but with 
slight strings. Of the *Svax" type, Brittle Wax is 
the earliest, and also a tremendous yielder. The 
long-time favorite. Rust-proof Golden Wax, is an- 
other fine sort, and an especially strong healthy 
grower. The top-notch in quality among all bush 
beans is reached, perhaps, in Burpee's White Wax 
— the white referring not to the pods, which are of 
a light yellow, and flat — but to the beans, which are 
pure white in all stages of growth. It has one un- 
usual and extremely valuable quality — ^the pods re- 
main tender longer than those of any other sort. 

Of the dwarf limas there is a new variety which 
is destined, I think, to become the leader of the 
half-dozen other good sorts to be had. That is the 
Burpee Improved. The name is rather misleading, 
as it is not an improved strain of the Dreer's or 
Kumerle bush lima, but a mutation, now thoroughly 
fixed. The bushes are stronger-growing and much 
larger than those of the older types, reaching a 
height of nearly three feet, standing strongly erect ; 
both pods and beans are much larger, and it is a 
week earlier. Henderson's new Early Giant I have 
not yet tried, but from the description I should say 
it is the same type as the above. Of the pole limas, 
the new Giant-podded is the hardiest — an important 




Early Snowball cauliflower. Not quite so 
hardy as cabbage. To keep white, tie leaves 
over maturing heads 




Kohlrabi. Early White and Early Purple 
(\"ienna) which should be used while still 
small and tender 



Vegetable Varieties 145 

point in limas, which are a little delicate in consti- 
tution anyway, especially in the seedling stage — and 
the biggest yielder of any I have grown and just as 
good in quality — and there is no vegetable much 
better than well cooked limas. With me, also, it has 
proved as early as that old standard, Early Levia- 
than, but this may have been a chance occurrence. 
Ford's Mammoth is another excellent pole lima of 
large size. Of the other pole beans, the two that are 
still my favorites are Kentucky Wonder, or Old 
Homestead, and Golden Cluster. The former has 
fat meaty green pods, entirely stringless until nearly 
mature, and of enormous length. I have measured 
man}^ over eight and a half inches long — and they 
are borne in great profusion. Golden Cluster is one 
of the handsomest beans I know. It is happily 
named, for the pods, of a beautiful rich golden yellow 
color, hang in generous clusters and great profusion. 
In quality it has no superior; it has always been a 
great favorite with my customers. One need never 
fear having too many of these, as the dried beans 
are pure white and splendid for winter use. Last 
season I tried a new pole bean called Burger's Green- 
pod Stringless or White-seeded Kentucky Wonder 
(the dried seeds of the old sort being brown). It 
did well, but was in so dry a place that I could not 
tell whether it was an improvement over the stand- 
ard or not. It is claimed to be earlier. 



10 



146 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Beets: — In beets, varieties are almost endless, but 
I confess that I have found no visible difference in 
many cases. Edmund's Early and Early Model 
are good for first crops. The Egyptian strains, 
though largely used for market, have never been 
as good in quality with me. For the main crop I 
like Crimson Globe. In time it is a second early, 
of remarkably good form, smooth skin and fine 
quality and color. 

Broccoli: — This vegetable is a poorer cousin of 
the cauliflower (which, by the way, has been termed 
"only a cabbage with a college education"). It is 
of little use where cauliflower can be grown, but 
serves as a substitute in northern sections, as it is 
more hardy than that vegetable. Early White 
French is the standard sort, 

Brussels sprouts: — This vegetable, in my opin- 
ion, is altogether too little grown. It is as easy to 
grow as fall and winter cabbage, and while the yield 
is less, the quality is so much superior that for the 
home garden it certainly should be a favorite. To- 
day (Jan. 19th) we had for dinner sprouts from a 
few old plants that had been left in transplanting 
boxes in an open coldframe. These had been out all 
winter — with no protection, repeatedly freezing and 
thawing, and, while of course sm.all, they were bet- 
ter in quality than any cabbage you ever ate. Dal- 
keith is the best dwarf-growing sort. Danish Prize 



Vegetable Varieties 147 

is a new sort, giving a much heavier yield than the 
older types. I have tried it only one year, but should 
say it will become the standard variety. 

Cabbage: — In cabbages, too, there is an endless 
mix-up of varieties. The Jersey Wakefield still re- 
mains the standard early. But it is at the best but 
a few days ahead of the flat-headed early sorts 
which stand much longer without breaking, so that 
for the home garden a very few heads will do. Glory 
of Enkhuisen is a new early sort that has become 
a great favorite. Early Summer and Succession are 
good to follow^ these, and Danish Ballhead is the best 
quality winter cabbage, and unsurpassed for keep- 
ing qualities. But for the home garden the Savoy 
type is, to my mind, far and away the best. It is not 
in the same class with the ordinary sorts at all. Per- 
fection Drumhead Savoy is the best variety. Of the 
red cabbages, Mammoth Rock is the standard. 

Carrots: — The carrots are more restricted as to 
number of varieties. Golden Ball is the earliest of 
them all, but also the smallest yielder. Early Scarlet 
Horn is the standard early, being a better yielder 
than the above. The Danvers Half-long is probably 
grown m.ore than all other kinds together. It grows 
to a length of about six inches, a very attractive 
deep orange in color. Where the garden soil is 
not in excellent condition, and thoroughly fined and 
pulverized as it should be, the shorter-growing kinds. 



148 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Oxheart and Chantenay, will give better satisfaction. 
If there is any choice in quality, I should award it to 
Chantenay. 

Cauliflower: — There is hardly a seed catalogue 
which does not contain its own special brand of the 
very best and earliest cauliflower ever introduced. 
These are for the most part selected strains of either 
the old favorite, Henderson's Snowball, or the old 
Early Dw^arf Erfurt. Snowball, and Burpee's Best 
Early, which resembles it, are the best varieties I 
have ever grown for spring or autumn. They are 
more likely to head, and of much finer quality than 
any of the large late sorts. Where climatic condi- 
tions are not favorable to growing cauliflower, and 
in dry sections, Dry-w^eather is the most certain to 
form heads. 

Celery: — For the home garden the dwarf-grow- 
ing, ''self-blanching" varieties of celery are much to 
be preferred. White Plume and Golden Self-blanch- 
ing are the best. The former is the earliest celery 
and of excellent quality, but not a good keeper. Re- 
cent introductions in celery have proved very real 
improvements. Perhaps the best of the newer sorts, 
for home use, is Winter Queen, as it is more readily 
handled than some of the standard market sorts. In 
quality it has no superior. When put away for win- 
ter properly, it will keep through April. 

Corn: — You will have to suit yourself about com. 



Vegetable Varieties 149 



I have not the temerity to name any best varieties — 
every seedsman has about half a dozen that are ab- 
solutely unequaled. For home use, I have cut my 
list down to three : Golden Bantam, a dwarf-grow- 
ing early of extraordinary hardiness — can be planted 
earlier than any other sort and, while the ears are 
small and with yellow kernels, it is exceptionally 
sweet and fine in flavor. This novelty of a few years 
since, has attained wide popular favor as quickly as 
any vegetable I know. Seymour's Sweet Orange 
is a new variety, somewhat similar to Golden Ban- 
tam, but later and larger, of equally fine quality. 
White Evergreen, a perfected strain of Stowell's 
Evergreen, a standard favorite for years, is the 
third. It stays tender longer than any other sweet 
corn I have ever grown. 

Cucumbers: — Of cucumbers also there is a long 
and varied list of names. The old Extra Early 
White Spine is still the best early ; for the main crop, 
some ''perfected" form of White Spine. I myself 
like the Fordhood Famous, as it is the healthiest 
strain I ever grew, and has very large fruit that 
stays green, while being of fine quality. In the last 
few years the Davis Perfect has won great popular- 
ity, and deservedly so. Many seedsmen predict that 
this is destined to become the leading standard — 
and where seedsmen agree let us prick up our ears! 
It has done very well with me, the fruit being the 



150 Home Vegetable Gardening 

handsomest of any I have grown. If it proves as 
strong a grower it will replace Fordhood Famous 
with me. 

Egg-plant: — New York Improved Purple is still 
the standard, but it has been to a large extent re- 
placed by Black Beauty, which has the merit of being 
ten days earlier and a more handsome fruit. When 
once tried it will very likely be the only sort grown. 

Endive: — This is a substitute for lettuce for which 
I personally have never cared. It is largely used 
commercially. Broad-leaved Batavian is a good va- 
riety. Giant Fringed is the largest . 

Kale: — Kale is a foreigner which has never been 
very popular in this country. Dwarf Scott Curled 
is the tenderest and most delicate (or least coarse) 
in flavor. 

Kohlrabi: — This peculiar mongrel should be bet- 
ter known. It looks as though a turnip had started 
to climb into the cabbage class and stopped half-way. 
When gathered young, not more than an inch and a 
half in diameter at the most, they are quite nice 
and tender. They are of the easiest cultivation. 
White Vienna is the best. 

Leek: — For those who like this sort of thing it is 
— just the sort of thing they like. American Flag 
is the best variety, but why it was given the first 
part of that name, I do not know. 



Vegetable Varieties 151 

Lettuce: — To cover the lettuces thoroughly would 
take a chapter by itself. For lack of space, I shall 
have to mention only a few varieties, although there 
are many others as good and suited to different 
purposes. For quality, I put Alignonette at the 
top of the list, but it makes very small heads. Grand 
Rapids is the best loose-head sort — fine for under 
glass, in frames and early outdoors. Last fall from 
a bench 40 x 4 ft., I sold $36 worth in one crop, 
besides some used at home. I could not sell winter 
head lettuce to customers who had once had this 
sort, so good was its quality. May King and Big 
Boston are the best outdoor spring and early sum- 
mier sorts. New York and Deacon are the best solid 
cabbage-head types for resisting summer heat, and 
long standing. Of the cos t3^pe Paris White is good. 

Muskmelon: — The varieties of muskmelon are 
also without limit. I mention but two — which have 
given good satisfaction out of a large number tried, 
in my own experience. Netted Gem (known as 
Rocky Ford) for a green-fleshed type, and Emerald 
Gem for salmon-fleshed. There are a number of 
newer varieties, such as Hoodoo, Miller's Cream, 
Montreal, Nutmeg, etc., all of excellent quality. 

Watermelon: — With me (in Connecticut) the sea- 
sons are a little short for this fruit. Cole's Early 
and Sweetheart have made the best showing. Hal- 
bert Honey is the best for quality . 



152 Home Vegetable Garden eng 

Okra: — In cool sections the Perfected Perkins 
does best, but it is not quite so good in quality as the 
southern favorite, White Velvet. The flowers and 
plants of this vegetable are very ornamental. 

Onion: — For some unknown reason, different 
seedsmen call the same onion by the same name. I 
have never found any explanation of this, except 
that a good many onions given different names in 
the catalogues are really the same thing. At least 
they grade into each other more than other vege- 
tables. With me Prizetaker is the only sort now 
grown in quantity, as I have found it to outyield all 
other yellows, and to be a good keeper. It is a little 
milder in quality than the American yellows — Dan- 
vers and Southport Globe. When started under 
glass and transplanted out in April, it attains the size 
and the quality of the large Spanish onions of which 
it is a descendant. Weathersfield Red is the stand- 
ard flat red, but not quite so good in quality or for 
keeping as Southport Red Globe. Of the whites 
I like best Mammoth Silver-skin. It is ready early 
and the finest in quality, to my taste, of all the 
onions, but not a good keeper. Ailsa Craig, a new 
English sort now listed in several American cata- 
logues, is the best to grow for extra fancy onions, 
especially for exhibiting; it should be started in 
February or March under glass. 

Parsley: — Emerald is a large-growing, beautifully 



Vegetable Varieties 153 

colored and mild-flavored sort, well worthy of 
adoption. 

Parsnip: — This vegetable is especially valuable be- 
cause it may be had at perfection when other vegeta- 
bles are scarce. Hollow Crown ("Improved," of 
course ! ) is the best. 

Peas: — Peas are worse than corn. You will find 
enough exclamation points in the pea sections of cat- 
alogues to train the vines on. If you want to escape 
brain-fag and still have as good as the best, if not 
better, plant Gradus (or Prosperity) for early and 
second early; Boston Unrivaled (an improved form 
of Telephone) for main crop, and Gradus for au- 
tumn. These two peas are good yielders, free grow- 
ers and of really wonderfully fine quality. They 
need bushing, but I have never found a variety of 
decent quality that does not. 

Pepper: — Ruby King is the standard, large, red, 
mild pepper, and as good as any. Chinese Giant is 
a newer sort, larger but later. The flesh is extreme- 
ly thick and mild. On account of this quality, it will 
have a wider range of use than the older sorts. 

Pumpkins: — The old Large Cheese, and the newer 
Quaker Pie, are as prolific, hardy and fine in quality 
and sweetness as any. 

Potato: — Bovee is a good early garden sort, but 
without the best of culture is very small. Irish Cob- 
bler is a good early white. Green Mountain is a 



154 Home Vegetable Gardening 

universal favorite for main crop in the East — a sure 
yielder and heavy-crop potato of excellent quality. 
Uncle Sam is the best quality potato I ever grew. 
Baked, they taste almost as rich as chestnuts. 

Radish: — I do not care to say much about rad- 
ishes; I do not like them. They are, however, uni- 
versal favorites. They come round, half-long, long 
and tapering; white, red, white-tipped, crimson, 
rose, yellow-brown and black; and from the size 
of a button to over a foot long by fifteen inches in 
circumference — the latter being the new Chinese or 
Celestial. So you can imagine what a revel of va- 
rieties the seedsmen may indulge in. I have tried 
many — and cut my own list down to two, Rapid- 
red (probably an improvement of the old standard. 
Scarlet Button), and Crimson Globe (or Giant), a 
big, rapid, healthy grower of good quality, and one 
that does not get "corky." A little land-plaster, or 
gypsum, worked into the soil at time of planting, 
will add to both appearance and quality in radishes. 

Spinach: — The best variety of spinach is Swiss 
Chard Beet (see below). If you want the real sort, 
use Long Season, which will give you cuttings long 
after other sorts have run to seed. New Zealand 
will stand more heat than any other sort. Victoria 
is a newer variety, for which the claim of best qual- 
ity is made. In my own trial I could not notice very 
much difference. It has, however, thicker and "sa- 
voyed" leaves. 




Mammoth Sandwich Is- Black radishes. They 

land salsify, the vege- come also in red, white, 

table oyster, is a deli- scarlet, yellow and com- 
cious root vegetable bination colors 



Vegetable Varieties 



155 



Salsify: — This is, to my taste, the most delicious 
of all root vegetables. It will not do well in soil not 
deep and finely pulverized, but a row or two for 
home use can be had by digging and fining before 
sow-ing the seed. It is worth extra work. !Mam- 
moth Sandwich is the best variety. 

Squash: — Of this fine vegetable there are no bet- 
ter sorts for the home garden than the little Delicata, 
and Fordhook. Vegetable ^larrow is a fine English 
sort that does well in almost all localities. The best 
of the newer large-vined sorts is The Delicious. It 
is of finer quality than the well known Hubbard. 
For earliest use, try a few plants of Vhite or Yellow 
Bush Scalloped. They are not so good in quality as 
either Delicata or Fordhook, which are ready within 
a week or so later. The latter are also excellent 
keepers and can be had, by starting plants early and 
by careful storing, almost from June to June. 

Tomato: — If you have a really hated enemy, give 
him a dozen seed catalogues and ask him to select 
for you the best four tomatoes. But unless you 
want to become criminally involved, send his doctor 
around the next morning. A few years ago I tried 
over forty kinds. A good many have been intro- 
duced since, som.e of which I have tried. I am pre- 
pared to make the following statements : Earliana is 
the earliest quality tomato, for light warm soils, that 
I have ever grown; Chalk's Jewel, the earliest for 



156 Home Vegetable Gardening 

heavier soils (Bonny Best Early resembles it) ; 
Matchless is a splendid main-crop sort ; Ponderosa is 
the biggest and best quality — ^but it likes to split. 
There is one more sort, which I have tried one year 
only, so do not accept my opinion as conclusive. It 
is the result of a cross between Ponderosa and 
Dwarf Champion — one of the strongest-growing 
sorts. It is called Dwarf Giant. The fruits are tre- 
mendous in size and in quality unsurpassed by any. 
The vine is very healthy, strong and stocky. I be- 
lieve this new tomato will become the standard main 
crop for the home garden. By all means try it. And 
that is a good deal to say for a novelty in its sec- 
ond year! 

Turnip: — The earliest turnip of good quality is 
the White Milan. There are several others of the 
white-fleshed sorts, but I have never found them 
equal in quality for table to the yellow sorts. Of 
these. Golden Ball (or Orange Jelly) is the best 
quality. Petrowski is a different and distinct sort, of 
very early maturity and of especially fine quality. 
If you have room for but one sort in your home 
garden, plant this for early, and a month later for 
main crop. 

Do not fail to try some of this year's novelties. 
Half the fun of gardening is in the experimenting. 
But when you are testing out the new things in 
comparison with the old, just take a few plants of 



Vegetable Varieties 



157 



the latter and give them the same extra care and 
attention. Very often the reputation of a novehy is 
built upon the fact that in growing it on trial the 
gardener has given it unusual care and the best soil 
and location at his command. Be fair to the stand- 
ards — and very often they will surprise you fully as 
much as the novelties. 



Chapter XIII 



INSECTS AND DISEASES AND METHODS OF FIGHTING 
THEM 

I USE the term "methods of fighting" rather 
than the more usual one, "remedies," because 
by both experience and study I am more and 
more convinced that so long as the commercial 
fields of agriculture remain in the present absolutely 
unorganized condition, and so long as the gardener 
— home or otherwise — who cares to be neglectful 
and thus become a breeder of all sorts of plant pests, 
is allowed so to do — just so long we can achieve no 
remedy worth the name. When speaking of a 
remedy in this connection we very frequently are 
putting the cart before the horse, and refer to some 
means of prevention. Prevention is not only the 
best, but often the only cure. This the gardener 
should always remember. 

This subject of plant enemies has not yet received 
the attention from scientific investigators which 
other branches of horticulture have, and it is alto- 
gether somewhat complicated. 

(158) 



Insects and Diseases 159* 

Before taking up the various insects and diseases 
the following analysis and list will enable the reader 
to get a general comprehension of the whole matter. 

Plant enemies are of two kinds — (i) insects, and 
(2) diseases. The former are of two kinds, (a) 
insects which chew or eat the leaves or fruit; (b) in- 
sects which suck the juices therefrom. The diseases 
also are of two kinds — (a) those which result from 
the attack of some fungus, or germ; (b) those which 
attack the whole organism of the plant and are 
termed "constitutional." Concerning these latter 
practically nothing is known. 

It will be seen at once, of course, that the 
remedy to be used must depend upon the nature of 
the enemy to be fought. We can therefore reduce 
the matter to a simple classification, as follows : 



PLANT ENEMIES 



Insects Class 

Eating a 

Sucking b 

Diseases 

Parasitical c 

Constitutional d 



i6o Home Vegetable Gardening 



REMEDIES 

Mechanical Number 

Covered boxes i 

Collars 2 

Cards 3 

Destructive 

Hand-picking 4 

Kerosene emulsion 5 

Whale-oil soap 6 

Miscible oils 7 

Tobacco dust 8 

Carbolic acid emulsion.... 9 

Corrosive sublimate 10 

Bordeaux mixture 11 

Poisonous 

Paris green 12 

Arsenate of lead 13 

Hellebore 14 



It will be of some assistance, particularly as re- 
gards quick reference, to give the following table, 
which shows at a glance the method of fighting any- 
enemy, the presence of which is known or antici- 
pated. 

While this may seem quite a formidable list, in 
practice many of these pests will not appear, and 
under ordinary circumstances the following six 
remedies out of those mentioned will suffice to keep 
them all in check, if used in time: Covered boxes, 



Insects and Diseases 



i6i 



hand-picking, kerosene emulsion, tobacco dust, Bor- 
deaux mixture, arsenate of lead. 



Enemy 



Attacking 



Class Remedy 



Aphis (Plant-lice) . 

Asparagus-beetle. . 
Aspar?.gxis rust . . . 

Black-rot 

Borers . 

Caterpillars 

Caterpillars 

Club-root 

Cucumber-beetle 

(Striped beetle) 
Cucumber-wilt . . . 
Cucumber-blight. . 

Cut- worm 

Flea-beetle. 

Potato-beetle 

Potato-blight 

Potato-scab 

Root-maggot 

Squash-bug 

White-fly 

White-grub 



Cabbage and other plants, espe- 
cially under glass 

Asparagus = , 

Asparagus 

Cabbage and the cabbage group. 

Squash 

Cabbage group 

Tomato 

Cabbage group 



Cucumber and \-ines 

Cucumber and vines 

Cucumber, muskmelon, cabbage. 

Cabbage, tomato, onion 

Potato, turnip, radish 

Potato and egg-plant 

Potato , 

Potato (tubers) 

Radish, onion, cabbage, melons . 

Squash, pumpkin 

Plants ; cucumber, tomato 

Plants 



b 


5, 8, 6 


a 


13, 13 


c 


II 


d 


10 


b 


4 


a 


12, 14, 4 


a 


4 


c 


(page 163) 


a 


I, II, 8 


c 


II 


c 


II 


: 


2, 4, 12, 13 


a 


II, 5 


a 


12, 13. 4 


c 


II 


c 


10 


a 


4. 3. 9 


b 


4, 8, 12, 5 


b 


6. 5. 8 


a 


4 



However, that the home gardener may be pre- 
pared to meet any contingency, I shall take up in 
brief detail the plant enemies mentioned and the 
remedies suggested. 

Aphis: — The small, soft green plant-lice. They 
seldom attack healthy growing plants in the field, 
but are hard to keep off under glass. If once estab- 



11 



i62 Home Vegetable Gardening 

lished it will take several applications to get rid of 
them. Use kerosene or soap emulsion, or tobacco 
dust. There are also several trade-marked prepara- 
tions that are good. Aphine, which may be had of 
any seed house, has proved very effective in my own 
work, and it is the pleasantest to use that I have so 
far found. 

Asparagus-beetle : — This pest will give little trou- 
ble on cleanly cultivated patches. Thorough work 
with arsenate of lead (i to 25) will take care of it. 

Black-rot: — This affects the cabbage group, pre- 
venting heading, by falling of the leaves. In clean, 
thoroughly limed soil, with proper rotations, it is 
not likely to appear. The seed may be soaked, in 
cases where the disease has appeared previously, for 
fifteeen minutes in a pint of water in which one of 
the corrosive sublimate tablets which are sold at 
drug stores is dissolved. 

Borers: — This borer is a flattish, white grub, 
which penetrates the main stem of squash or other 
vines near the ground and seems to sap the strength 
of the plant, even when the vines have attained a 
length of ten feet or more. His presence is first 
made evident by the wilting of the leaves during 
the noonday heat. Coal ashes mixed with the ma- 
nure in the hill, is claimed to be a preventative. An- 
other is to plant some early squash between the 
hills prepared for the winter crop, and not to plant 



Insects and Diseases 163 



the latter until as late as possible. The early squash 
vines, which act as a trap, are pulled and burned. 

Last season almost half the vines in one of my 
pieces were attacked after many of the squashes 
were large enough to eat. With a little practice I 
was able to locate the borer's exact position, shown 
by a spot in the stalk where the flesh was soft, and 
of a slightly different color. With a thin, sharp 
knife-blade the vines were carefully slit lengthwise 
on this spot, the borer extracted and killed and the 
vines in almost every instance speedily recovered. 
Another method is to root the vines by heaping 
moist earth over several of the leaf joints, when the 
vines have attained sufficient length. 

Cabbage-caterpillar: — This small green worm, 
which hatches upon the leaves and in the forming 
heads of cabbage and other vegetables of the cab- 
bage group, comes from the eggs laid by the com- 
mon white or yellow butterfly of early spring. Pick 
off all that are visible, and spray with kerosene emul- 
sion if the heads have not begun to form. If they 
have, use hellebore instead. The caterpillar or worm 
of tomatoes is a large green voracious one, men- 
tioned on page 139. Hand-picking is the only rem- 
edy. 

Club-roof: — This is a parasitical disease attacking 
the cabbage group, especially in ground where these 
crops succeed each other. Lime both soil and seed- 



1 64 Home Vegetable Gardening 

bed — at least the fall before planting, unless using a 
special agricultural lime. The crop infested is some- 
times carried through by giving a special dressing 
of nitrate of soda, guano or other quick-acting pow- 
erful fertilizer, and hilled high with moist earth, thus 
giving a special stimulation and encouraging the 
formation of new roots. While this does not in any- 
way cure the disease, it helps the crop to withstand 
its attack. When planting again be sure to use crop 
rotation and to set plants not grown in infested soil. 

Cucumber-beetle: — This is the small, black-and- 
yellow-striped beetle which attacks cucumbers and 
other vines and, as it multiplies rapidly and does a 
great deal of damage before the results show, they 
must be attended to immediately upon appearance. 
The vine should be protected with screens until they 
crowd the frames, which should be put in place be- 
fore the beetles put in an appearance. If the beetles 
are still in evidence when the vines get so large that 
the screens must be removed, keep sprayed with Bor- 
deaux mixture. Plaster, or fine ashes, sifted on the 
vines will also keep them off to some extent, by keep- 
ing the leaves covered. 

Cucumber-wilt: — This condition accompanies the 
presence of the striped beetle, although supposed not 
to be directly caused by it. The only remedy is to 
get rid of the beetles as above, and to collect and 
burn every wilted leaf or plant. 



Insects and Diseases 165 



Cucumber-blight or Mildew is similar to that 
which attacks muskmelons, the leaves turning yel- 
low, dying in spots and finally drying up altogether. 
Where there is reason to fear an attack of this dis- 
ease, or upon the first appearance, spray thoroughly 
with Bordeaux, 5-5-50, and repeat every ten days 
or so. The spraying seems to be more effective on 
cucumbers than on melons. 

Cut-worm: — The cut-worm is perhaps the most 
annoying of all garden pests. Others do more 
damage, but none is so exasperating. He works at 
night, attacks the strongest, healthiest plants, and 
is content simply to cut them off, seldom, apparently, 
eating much or carrying away any of the sev- 
ered leaves or stems, although occasionally I have 
found such bits, especially small onion tops, dragged 
off and partly into the soil. In small gardens the 
quickest and best remedy is hand-picking. As the 
worms work at night they may be found with a lan- 
tern ; or very early in the morning. In daytime by 
digging about in the soil wherever a cut is found, 
and by careful search, they can almost invariably be 
turned out. As a preventive, and a supplement to 
hand-picking, a poisoned bait should be used. This 
is made by mixing bran with water until a "mash'* 
is made, to which is added a dusting of Paris green 
or arsenate of lead, sprayed on thickly and thor- 
oughly worked through the mass. This is distrib- 



1 66 Home Vegetable Gardening 



uted in small amounts — a tablespoonful or so to a 
place along the row or near each hill or plant — just 
as they are coming up or set out. Still another 
method, where only a few plants are put out, is to 
protect each by a collar of tin or tar paper. 

Flea-beetle: — This small, black or striped hard- 
shelled mite attacks potatoes and young cabbage, 
radish and turnip plants. It is controlled by spray- 
ing with kerosene emulsion or Bordeaux. 

Potato-beetle: — The striped Colorado beetle, 
which invariably finds the potato patch, no matter 
how small or isolated. Paris green, dry or sprayed, 
is the standard remedy. Arsenate of lead is now 
largely used. On small plots hand-picking of old 
bugs and destruction of eggs (which are laid on 
imder side of leaves) is quick and sure. 

Potato-blight: — Both early and late forms of 
blight are prevented by Bordeaux, 5-5-50, sprayed 
every two weeks. Begin early — when plants are 
about six inches high. 

Potato-scab: — Plant on new ground; soak the 
seed in solution prepared as directed under No. 10, 
which see; allow no treated tubers to touch bags, 
boxes, bins or soil where untreated ones have been 
kept. 

Root-maggot: — This is a small white grub, often 
causing serious injury to radishes, onions and the 
cabbage group. Liming the soil and rotation are 



A vcr}' decisi^-e answer to the "no room for fruit" argument 




One way of finding room — standard grafted on dwarf stock 



Insects and Diseases 167 



the best preventives. Destroy all infested plants, 
being sure to get the maggots when pulling them 
up. The remaining plants should be treated with a 
gill of strong caustic lime water, or solution of - 
muriate of potash poured about the root of each 
plant, first removing an inch or so of earth. In place 
of these solutions carbolic acid emxulsion is some- 
times used; or eight to ten drops of bisulphide of 
carbon are dropped into a hole made near the roots 
with the dibber and then covered in. Extra stimu- 
lation, as directed for Club-root, will help carry the 
plants through. 

Squash-bug: — This is the large, black, flat "stink- 
bug," so destructive of squash and the other running 
vines. Protection vnth frames, or hand-picking, are 
the best home garden remedies. The old bugs may 
be trapped under boards and by early vines. The 
young bugs, or "sap-sucking nymphs," are the ones 
that do the real damage. Heavy tobacco dusting, 
or kerosene emulsion will kill them. 

White-fuy: — This is the most troublesome under 
glass, where it is controlled by fumigation, but occa- 
sionally is troublesome on plants and tomato and 
cucumber vines. The young are scab-like insects 
and do the real damage. Spray with kerosene emul- 
sion or whale-oil soap. 

White-grub or muck-worm: — When lawns are in- 
fested the sod must be taken up, the grubs destroyed 



1 68 Home Vegetable Gardening 



and new sward made. When the roots of single 
plants are attacked, dig out, destroy the grubs and, 
if the plant is not too much injured, reset. 

The remedies given in the table on page i6o are 
prepared as follows : 

MECHANICAL REMEDIES 

1. — Covered boxes: — These are usually made of 
half-inch stuff, about eight inches high and covered 
with mosquito netting, wire or ''protecting cloth" — 
the latter having the extra advantage of holding 
warmth over night. 

2. — Collars are made of old cans with the bot- 
toms removed, cardboard or tarred paper, large 
enough to go over the plant and an inch or so into 
the ground. 

3. — Cards are cut and fitted close around the stem 
and for an inch or so upon the ground around it, to 
prevent maggots going down the stem to the root. 
Not much used. 

DESTRUCTIVE REMEDIES 

4. — Hand-picking is usually very effective, and if 
performed as follows, not very disagreeable : Fasten 
a small tin can securely to a wooden handle and fill 
one-third full of water and kerosene; make a small 
wooden paddle, with one straight edge and a rather 
sharp point ; by using this in the right hand and the 



Insects and Diseases 169 



pan in the left, the bugs may be quickly knocked off. 
Be sure to destroy all eggs when hand-picking is 
used. 

5. — Kerosene emulsion is used in varying 
strengths; for method of preparing, see page 221. 

6 and 7. — For use of whale-oil soap and miscible 
oils, see pages 216, 221. 

8. — Tobacco dust: — This article varies greatly. 
Most sorts are next to worthless, but a few of the 
brands especially prepared for this work (and sold 
usually at $3 per hundred pounds, which will last 
two ordinary home gardens a whole season) are 
very convenient to use, and effective. Apply with a 
duster, like that described on page 39, Implements. 

9. — Carbolic acid emidsion: — i pint crude acid, i 
lb. soap and i gal. water. Dissolve the soap in hot 
water, add balance of water and pump into an emul- 
sion, as described for kerosene emulsion. 

10. — Corrosive sublimate is used to destroy scab 
on potatoes for seed by dissolving i oz. in 7 gals, of 
water. The same result is obtained by soaking for 
thirty minutes in a solution of commercial formalin, 
at the rate of i gill to 1 5 gals, of water. 

11. — Bordeaux mixture: — See page 220. 

POISONOUS REMEDIES 

12. — Paris green: — This is the standard remedy 
for eating-bugs and worms. With a modern dust- 



lyo Home Vegetable Gardening 

ing machine it can be put on dry, early in the morn- 
ing when the dew is still on. Sometimes it is mixed 
with plaster. For tender plants easily burned by the 
pure powder, and where dusting is not convenient, it 
is mixed with water at the rate of i lb. to 50 to 100 
gals, and used as a spray. In mixing, make a paste 
of equal quantities of the powder and quicklime, and 
then mix thoroughly in the water. It must be kept 
stirred up when using. 

13. — Arsenate of lead: — This has two advantages 
over Paris green : It will not burn the foliage and it 
will stay on several times as long. Use from 4 to 10 
lbs. in 100 gals, of water; mix Avell and strain before 
putting in sprayer. See also page 222. 

14. — Hellebore: — A dry, white powder, used in 
place of Nos. 12 or 13 on vegetables or fruit that is 
soon to be eaten. For dusting, use i lb. hellebore to 
5 of plaster or flour. For watering or spraying, at 
rate of i lb. to 12 gals, of water. 

PRECAUTIONS 

So much for what we can do in actual hand-to- 
hand, or rather hand-to-mouth, conflict with the en- 
emy. Very few remedies have ever proved entirely 
successful, especially on crops covering any consid- 
erable area. It w411 be far better, far easier and far 
more effective to use the following means of pre- 
caution against plant pest ravages : First, aim to 



Insects and Diseases 171 



have soil, food and plants that will produce a rapid, 
robust growth without check. Such plants are sel- 
dom attacked by any plant disease, and the foliage 
does not seem to be so tempting to eating-insects; 
besides which, of course, the plants are much better 
able to withstand their attack if they do come. Sec- 
ond, give clean, frequent culture and keep the soil 
busy. Do not have old weeds and refuse lying 
around for insects and eggs to be sheltered by. Burn 
all leaves, stems and other refuse from plants that 
have been diseased. Do not let the ground lie idle, 
but by continuous cropping keep the bugs, caterpil- 
lars and eggs constantly rooted out and exposed to 
their natural enemies. Third, practice crop rotation 
(described on page 106). This is of special import- 
ance where any root disease is developed. Fourth, 
watch closely and constantly for the first appearance 
of trouble. The old adages ''eternal vigilance is 
the price of peace," and "a stitch in time saves nine," 
are nowhere more applicable than to this matter. 
And last, and of extreme importance, be prepared to 
act at once. Do not give the enemy an hour's rest 
after his presence is discovered. In almost every 
case it is only by having time to multiply, that dam- 
age amounting to anything will be done. 

If you will keep on hand, ready for instant use, 
a good hand-sprayer and a m^odern powder gun, a 
few covered boxes, tobacco dust, arsenate of lead 



172 Home Vegetable Gardening 

and materials for kerosene emulsion and Bordeaux 
mixture, and are not afraid to resort to hand-pick- 
ing when necessary, you will be able to cope with 
all the plant enemies you are likely to encounter. 
The slight expense necessary — considering that the 
two implements mentioned will last for years with a 
little care — will pay as handsome a dividend as any 
garden investment you can make. 



Chapter XIV 



HARVESTING AND STORING 

IT is a very common thing to allow the garden 
vegetables not used to rot on the ground, or 
in it. There is a great deal of unnecessary 
waste in this respect, for a great many of the things 
so neglected may just as well be carried into winter, 
and will pay a very handsome dividend for the slight 
trouble of gathering and storing them. 

A good frost-proof, cool cellar is the best and 
most convenient place in which to store the surplus 
product of the home garden. But, lacking this, a 
room partitioned off in the furnace cellar and well 
ventilated, or a small empty room, preferably on 
the north side of the house, that can be kept below 
forty degrees most of the time, will serve excellently. 
Or, some of the most bulky vegetables, such as cab- 
bage and the root crops, may be stored in a prepared 
pit made in the garden itself. 

As it is essential that such a pit be properly con- 
structed, I shall describe one with sufficient detail 
to enable the home gardener readily to construct it. 

(173) 



174 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Select a spot where water will not stand. Put the 
vegetables in a triangular-shaped pile, the base three 
or four feet wide, and as long as required. Sepa- 
rate the different vegetables in this pile by stakes 
about two feet higher than the top of the pile, and 
label them. Then cover with a layer of clean straw 
or bog hay, and over this four inches of soil, dug 
up three feet back from the edges of the pile. This 
work must be done late in the fall, as nearly as one 
can judge just before lasting freezing begins, and 
preferably on a cold morning when the ground is 
just beginning to freeze; the object being to freeze 
the partly earth covering at once, so that it will not 
be washed or blown off. The vegetables must be 
perfectly dry when stored; dig them a week or so 
previous and keep them in an airy shed. As soon 
as this first layer of earth is partly frozen, but before 
it freezes through, put on another thick layer of 
straw or hay and cover with twelve inches of earth, 
keeping the pile as steep as possible ; a slightly clayey 
soil, that may be beaten down firmly into shape with 
a spade, being best. The pile should be made where 
it will be sheltered from the sun as much as possible, 
such as on the north side of a building. The disad- 
vantage of the plan is, of course, that the vegetables 
cannot be got at until the pile is opened up, in early 
spring, or late if desired. Its two advantages are 
that the vegetables stored will be kept in better con- 



Harvesting and Storing 175 

dition than in any cellar, and that cellar or house 
room will be saved. 

For storing small quantities of the roots, such as 
carrots or beets, they are usually packed in boxes 
or barrels and covered in with clean sand. Where 
an upstairs room has to be used, swamp or sphagnum 
moss may replace the sand. It makes an ideal pack- 
ing medium, as it is much lighter and cleaner than 
the sand. In many localities it may be had for the 
gathering ; in others one may get it from a florist. 

In storing vegetables of any kind, and by what- 
ever method, see to it that : ( i ) They are always 
clean, dry and sound. The smallest spot or bruise is 
a danger center, which may spread destruction to 
the lot. 

(2) That the temperature, whatever required — in 
most cases 33-38 degrees being best — is kept as even 
as possible. 

(3) That the storage place is kept clean, dry (by 
ventilation when needed) and sweet (by use of 
whitewash and lim.e). 

(4) That no rats or other rodents are playing 
havoc with your treasures while you never suspect it. 

So many of the vegetables can be kept, for either 
part or all of the winter, that I shall take them up 
in order, with brief directions. Many, such as green 
beans, rhubarb, tomatoes, etc., which cannot be kept 
in the ordinary ways, may be easily and cheaply 



176 Home Vegetable Gardening 

canned, and where one has a good cellar, it will 
certainly pay to get a canning outfit and make use 
of this method. 

Beans: — Almost all the string and snap beans, 
when dried in the pods, are excellent for cooking. 
And any pods which have not been gathered in the 
green state should be picked, as soon as dry (as wet 
weather is likely to mould or sprout them), and 
stored in a dry place, or spread on a bench in the 
sun. They will keep, either shelled or in the dry 
pods, for winter. 

Beets: — In October, before the first hard frosts, 
take up and store in a cool cellar, in clean, perfectly 
dry sand, or in pits outside (see Cabbage) ; do not 
cut off the long tap roots, nor the tops close enough 
to cause any "bleeding." 

Brussels sprouts: — These are improved by freez- 
ing, and may be used from the open garden until 
December. If wanted later, store them with cab- 
bage, or hang up the stalks in bunches in a cold 
cellar. 

Cabbage: — If only a few heads are to be stored, 
a cool cellar will do. Even if where they will be 
slightly frozen, they will not be injured, so long as 
they do not freeze and thaw repeatedly. They 
should not be taken in until there is danger of severe 
freezing, as they will keep better, and a little frost 
improves the flavor. For storing small quantities 



Harvesting and Storing 



177 



outdoors, dig a trench, a foot or so deep, in a well 
drained spot, wide enough to admit two heads side 
by side. Pull up the cabbages, without removing 
either stems or outer leaves, and store side by side, 
head down, in the bottom of the trench. Now cover 
over lightly with straw, meadow hay, or any refuse 
which will keep the dirt from freezing to the cab- 
bages, and then cover over the whole with earth, 
to the depth of several inches, but allowing the top 
of the roots to remain exposed, which will facilitate 
digging them up as required. Do not bury the cab- 
bage until as late as possible before severe freezing, 
as a spell of warm weather would rot it. 

Carrots: — Treat in the same way as beets. They 
will not be hurt by a slight freezing of the tops, be- 
fore being dug, but care must be taken not to let the 
roots become touched by frost. 

Celery: — That which is to be used early is 
blanched outside, by banking, as described in Chap- 
ter XI, and as celery will stand a little freezing, 
will be used directly from the garden. For the 
portion to be kept over winter, provide boxes about 
a foot wide, and nearly as deep as the celery is high. 
Cover the bottoms of these boxes with two or three 
inches of sand, and wet thoroughly. Upon this 
stand the celer}' upright, and packed close together. 
In taking up the celery for storing in this way, the 
roots and whatever earth adheres to them are kept 

12 



lyS Home Vegetable Gardening 

on, not cut, as it is bought in the stores. The boxes 
are then stored in a cellar, or other dark, dry, cold 
place where the temperature will not go more than 
five degrees below freezing. The celery w^ill be ready 
for use after Christmas. If a long succession is 
wanted, store from the open two or three different 
times, say at the end of October, first part of No- 
vember and the latter part of November. 

Cucumbers, Melons, Egg-plant: — While there is 
no way of storing these for any great length of tim.e 
without recourse to artificial cold, they may be had 
for some time by storing just before the first frosts 
in a cool, dark cellar, care being taken in handling 
the fruits to give them no bruises. 

Onions: — If the onions got a good early start in 
the spring, the tops will begin to die down by the 
middle of August. As soon as the tops have turned 
yellow and withered they should be pulled, on the 
first clear dry da}^ and laid in windrows (three or 
four rows in one), but not heaped up. They should 
be turned over frequently, by hand or with a wooden 
rake, and removed to a shed or barn floor as soon 
as dry, where the tops can be cut off. Keep them 
spread out as much as possible, and give them open 
ventilation until danger of frost. Then store in a 
dry place and keep as cool as possible without freez- 
ing. A few barrels, with holes knocked in the sides, 
will do well for a small quantity. 



Harvesting and Storing 179 

Parsley: — Take up a few plants and keep in a 
flower-pot or small box, in the kitchen window. 

Parsnips: — These will stay in the ground with- 
out injury all winter, but part of the crop may be 
taken up late in the fall and stored with beets, car- 
rots and turnips, to use while the ground is frozen. 

Potatoes: — When the vines have died down and 
the skin of the new potatoes has become somewhat 
hardened, they can be dug and stored in a cool, dry 
cellar at once. Be sure to give plenty of ventilation 
until danger of frost. Keep from the light, as this 
has the effect of making the potatoes bitter. If 
there is any sign of rot among the tubers, do not 
dig them up until it has stopped. 

Squash and Pumpkins: — The proper conditions 
for storing for winter will be indicated by the dry- 
ing and shrinking of the stem. Cut them from the 
vines, being careful never to break off the stem, turn 
over, rub off the dirt and leave the under side ex- 
posed to a few days' sunlight. Then carry in a 
spring wagon, or spring wheelbarrow, covered with 
old bags or hay to keep from any bruises. Store in 
the dryest part of the cellar, and if possible where 
the temperature will not go below forty degrees. 
Leave them on the vines in the field as late as possi- 
ble, while escaping frosts. 

Tomatoes: — Just before the first frosts are likely 
to begin, pick all of the best of the unripened fruits. 



i8o Home Vegetable Gardening 

Place part of these on clean straw in a coldframe, 
giving pfotection, where they w^ill gradually ripen 
up. Place others, that are fully developed but not 
ripe, in straw in the cellar. In this way fresh toma- 
toes may frequently be had as late as Christmas. 

Turnip: — These roots, if desired, can be stored 
as are beets or carrots. 

It is hard to retain our interest in a thing when 
most of its usefulness has gone by. It is for that 
reason, I suppose, that one sees so many forsaken 
and weed-grown gardens every autumn, where in 
the spring everything was neat and clean. But there 
are two very excellent reasons why the vegetable 
garden should not be so abandoned — to say nothing 
of appearances ! The first is that many vegetables 
continue to grow until the heavy frosts come; and 
the second, that the careless gardener who thus for- 
sakes his post is sowing no end of trouble for him- 
self for the coming year. For weeds left to them- 
selves, even late in the fall, grow" in the cool moist 
weather with astonishing rapidity, and, almost be- 
fore one realizes it, transform the well kept garden 
into a ragged wilderness, where the intruders have 
taken such a strong foothold that they cannot be 
pulled up without tearing everything else with them. 
So we let them go — and. left to themselves, they 
accomplish their purpose in life, and leave upon the 
ground an evenly distributed supply of plump ripe 



Harvesting and Storing i8i 

seeds, which next spring will cause the perennial 
exclamation, "Mercy, John, where did all these 
w^eeds come from?" And John replies, ''I don't 
know; we kept the garden clean last summer. I 
think there must be weed seeds in the fertilizer." 

Do not let up on your fight with weeds, for every 
good vegetable that is left over can be put to some 
use. Here and there in the garden will be a strip 
that has gone by, and as it is now too late to plant, 
w^e just let it go. Yet now is the time we should be 
preparing all such spots for w^ithstanding next sum- 
mer's drouth! You may remember how strongly 
was emphasized the necessity for having abundant 
humus (decayed vegetable matter) in the soil — how 
it acts like a sponge to retain moisture and keep 
things growing through the long, dry spells which 
we seem to be sure of getting ever}^ summer. So 
take thought for next year. Buy a bushel of rye, 
and as fast as a spot in your garden can be cleaned 
up, harrow, dig or rake it over, and sow the rye 
on broadcast. Just enough loose surface dirt to 
cover it and let it sprout, is all it asks. If the 
weather is dry, and you can get a small roller, roll 
it in to ensure better germination. It will come up 
quickly ; it will keep out the weeds which otherwise 
would be taking possession of the ground; it will 
grow until the ground is frozen solid and begin 
again with the first warm spring day; it will keep 



i82 Home Vegetable Gardening 

your garden from washing out in heavy rains, and 
capture and save from being washed away and 
wasted a good deal of left-over plant food; it will 
serve as just so much real manure for your garden; 
it will improve the mechanical condition of the soil, 
and it will add the important element of humus 
to it. 

In addition to these things, you will have an at- 
tractive and luxuriant garden spot, instead of an 
unsightly bare one. And in clearing off these 
patches for rye, beware of w^aste. If you have hens, 
or by chance a pig, they will relish old heads of 
lettuce, old pea-vines, still green after the last pick- 
ing, and the stumps and outer leaves of cabbage. 
Even if you have not this means of utilizing your 
garden's by-products, do not let them go to waste. 
Put everything into a square pile — old sods, weeds, 
vegetable tops, refuse, dirt, leaves, lawn sweepings — 
anything that will rot. Tread this pile down thor- 
oughly; give it a soaking once in a while if within 
reach of the hose, and two or three turnings with a 
fork. Next spring when you are looking for every 
available pound of manure with which to enrich 
your garden, this compost heap will stand you in 
good stead. 

Burn now your old pea-brush, tomato poles and 
everything that is not worth keeping over for next 
year. Do not leave these things lying around to 



Harvesting and Storing 183 



harbor and protect eggs and insects and weed seeds. 
If any bean-poles, stakes, trellises or supports seem 
in good enough condition to serve another year, put 
them under cover now; and see that all your tools 
are picked up and put in one place, where you can 
find them and overhaul them next February. As 
soon as your surplus pole beans have dried in their 
pods, take up poles and all and store in a dry place. 
The beans may be taken off later at your leisure. 

Be careful to cut dow^n and burn (or put in the 
compost heap) all weeds around your fences, and 
the edges of your garden, before they ripen seed. 

If the suggestions given are followed, the vegeta- 
ble garden may be stretched far into the winter. 
But do not rest at that. Begin to plan nozu for your 
next year's garden. Put a pile of dirt where it will 
not be frozen, or dried out, when you want to use it 
next February for your early seeds. If you have 
no hotbed, fix the frames and get the sashes for one 
now, so it will be ready to hand when the ground 
is frozen solid and covered with snow next spring. 
If you have made garden mistakes this year, be 
planning now to rectify them next — without prog- 
ress there is no fun in the game. Let next spring 
find you with your plans all made, your materials 
all on hand and a fixed resolution to have the best 
garden you have ever had. 



Part Three — Fruits and Berries 



Chapter XV 

THE VARIETIES OF POME AND STONE FRUITS 

MANY a home gardener who has succeeded 
well with vegetables is, for some reason 
or other, still fearsome about trying his 
hand at growing his own fruit. 

This is all a mistake; the initial expense is very 
slight (fruit trees will cost but twxnty-five to forty 
cents each, and the berry bushes only about four 
cents each), and the same amount of care that is 
demanded by vegetables, if given to fruit, will pro- 
duce apples, peaches, pears and berries far superior 
to any that can be bought, especially in flavor. 

I know a doctor in New York, a specialist, who 
has attained prominence in his profession, and who 
makes a large income ; he tells me that there is noth- 
ing in the city that hurts him so much as to have 
to pay out a nickel whenever he wants an apple. 
His boyhood home was on a Pennsylvania farm, 
where apples were as free as water, and he cannot 
get over the idea of their being one of Nature's 
gracious gifts, any more than he can overcome his 

(184) 



Fruit Varieties 



hankering for that crisp, juicy, uncloying flavor of 
a good apple, which is not quite equaled by the taste 
of any other fruit. 

And yet it is not the saving in expense, although 
that is considerable, that makes the strongest argu- 
ment for growing one's own fruit. There are three 
other reasons, each of more importance. First is 
quality. The commercial growler cannot afford to 
grow the very finest fruit. Many of the best varie- 
ties are not large enough yielders to be available 
for his use, and he cannot, on a large scale, so prune 
and care for his trees that the individual fruits re- 
ceive the greatest possible amount of sunshine and 
thinning out — the personal care that is required for 
the very best quality. Second, there is the beauty 
and the value that well kept fruit trees add to a 
place, no matter how small it is. An apple tree in 
full bloom is one of the most beautiful pictures that 
Nature ever paints ; and if, through any train of 
circumstances, it ever becomes advisable to sell or 
rent the home, its desirability is greatly enhanced 
by the few trees necessary to furnish the loveliness 
of showering blossoms in spring, welcome shade in 
summer and an abundance of delicious fruits 
through autumn and winter. Then there is the fun 
of doing it — of planting and caring for a few young 
trees, which will reward your labors, in a cumula- 
tive way, for many years to come. 



1 86 Home Vegetable Gardening 

But enough of reasons. If the call of the soil is 
in your veins, if your fingers (and your brain) in 
the springtime itch to have a part in earth's ever- 
wonderful renascence, if your lips part at the 
thought of the white, firm, toothsome flesh of a 
ripened-on-the-tree red apple — then you must have 
a home orchard without delay. 

And it is not a difficult task. Apples, pears and 
the stone fruits, fortunately, are not very particular 
about their soils. They take kindly to anything 
between a sandy soil so loose as to be almost shift- 
ing, and heavy clay. Even these soils can be made 
available, but of course not without more work. 
And you need little room to grow all the fruit your 
family can possibly eat. 

Time was, when to speak of an apple tree 
brought to mind one of those old, moss-barked 
giants that served as a carriage shed and a summer 
dining-room, decorated with scythes and rope 
swings, requiring the services of a forty-foot ladder 
and a long-handled picker to gather the fruit. That 
day is gone. In its stead have come the low-headed 
standard and the dwarf forms. The new types 
came as new institutions usually do, under protest. 
The wise said they would never be practical — the 
trees would not get large enough and teams could 
not be driven under them. But the facts remained 
that the low trees are more easily and thoroughly 



Fruit Varieties 



187 



cared for; that they do not take up so much room; 
that they are less exposed to high winds, and such 
fruit as does fall is not injured; that the low limbs 
shelter the roots and conserve moisture ; and, above 
all, that picking can be accomplished much more 
easily and with less injury to fine, well ripened 
fruit. The low-headed tree has com.e to stay. 

If your space will allow, the low-headed stand- 
ards will give you better satisfaction than the 
dwarfs. They are longer-lived, they are healthier, 
and they do not require nearly so much intensive 
culture. On the other hand, the dwarfs may be 
used where there is little or no room for the stand- 
ards. If there is no other space available, they 
may be put in the vegetable or flower garden, and 
incidentally they are then sure of receiving some 
of that special care which they need in the way of 
fertilization and cultivation. 

As I have said, any average soil will grow good 
fruit. A gravelly loam, with a gravel subsoil, is the 
ideal. Do not think from this, however, that all 
you have to do is buy a few trees from a nursery 
agent, stick them in the ground and from your neg- 
ligence reap the rew^ards that follow only intelligent 
industry. The soil is but the raw material which 
work and care alone can transform, through the 
medium of the growing tree, into the desired result 
of a cellar well stored each autumn with fruit. 



i88 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Fruit trees have one big advantage over vegeta- 
bles — the ground can be prepared for them while 
they are growing. If the soil will grow a crop of 
clover it is already in good shape to furnish the 
trees with food at once. If not, manure or fer- 
tilizers may be applied, and clover or other green 
crops turned under during the first two or three 
yeas of the trees' growth, as will be described later. 

The first thing to consider, when you have de- 
cided to plant, is the location you will give your 
trees. Plan to have pears, plums, cherries and 
peaches, as well as apples. For any of these the 
soil, of whatever nature, must be well drained. If 
not naturally, then tile or other artificial drainage 
must be provided. For only a few trees it would 
probably answer the purpose to dig out large holes 
and fill in a foot or eighteen inches at the bottom 
with small stone, covered with gravel or screened 
coal-cinders. My own land has a gravelly subsoil 
and I have not had to drain. Then with the apples, 
and especially with the peaches, a too-sheltered 
slope to the south is likely to start the flower buds 
prematurely in spring, only to result in total crop 
loss from late frosts. The diagram on the next page 
suggests an arrangement which may be adapted to 
individual needs. One may see from it that the 
apples are placed to the north, where they will to 
some extent shelter the rest of the grounds; the 



Fruit Varieties 



peaches where they will not be coddled; the pears, 
which may be had upon quince stock, where they 
will not shade the vegetable garden; the cherries, 

which are the 



Q 



BUILDINGS 




® 



VEGETABLE 

GAR OEM 



^ 



® 



A suggested arrangement of fruit 
trees on the small place : i — 
Apples, 2 — Peaches, 3 — Cherries, 
4 — Quinces, 5 — Plums, 6 — Pears 



most ornamental, 
where they may 
lend a decorative 
effect. 

And now, hav- 
ing decided that 
we can — and will 
— g row good 
fruit, and having 
in mind sugges- 
tions that will en- 
able us to go out 
to-morrow morn- 
ing and, w4th an 
armful of stakes, 
mark out the loca- 
tions, the next con- 
sideration should 
be the all-import- 
ant question of 



what varieties are most successfully grown on the 
small place. 

The following selections are made with the home 
fruit garden, not the commercial orchard, in mind. 



igo Home Vegetable Gardening 

While they are all ''tried and true" sorts, succeeding 
generally in the northeast, New England and west- 
ern fruit sections, remember that fruits, as a rule, 
though not so particular as vegetables about soil, 
seem much more so about locality. I would sug^- 
gest, therefore, submitting your list, before buying, 
to your State Experiment Station. You are taxed 
for its support; get some direct result from it. 
There they will be glad to advise you, and are in 
the best position to help you get started properly. 
Above all, do not buy from the traveling nursery 
agent, with his grip full of wonderful lithographs 
of new and unheard-of novelties. Get the catalogue 
of several reliable nurseries, take standard varieties 
about which you know, and buy direct. Several 
years ago I had the opportunity to go carefully over 
one of the largest fruit nurseries in the country. 
Every care and precaution was taken to grow fine, 
healthy, young trees. The president told me that 
they sold thousands every year to smaller concerns, 
to be resold again through field and local agents. 
Yet they do an enormous retail business them- 
selves, and of course their own customers get the 
best trees. 

The following are listed, as nearly as I can judge, 
in the order of their popularity, but as many of the 
best are not valuable commercially, they are little 
known. Whenever you find a particularly good 
apple or pear, try to trace it, and add it to your list. 



Fruit Varieties • 191 



APPLES 

Without any question, the apple is far and away 
the most valuable fruit, both because of its greater 
scope of usefulness and its longer season — the last 
of the winter's Russets are still juicy and firm when 
the first Early Harvests and Red Astrachans are 
tempting the "young idea" to experiment with colic. 
Plant but a small proportion of early varieties, for 
the late ones are better. Out of a dozen trees, I 
would put in one early, three fall, and the rest win- 
ter sorts. 

Among the summer apples are several deserving 
special mention : Yellow Transparent is the earliest. 
It is an old .favorite and one of the most easily 
grown of all apples. Its color is indicated by the 
name, and it is a fair eating-apple and a very good 
cooker. Red Astrachan, another first early, is not 
quite so good for cooking, but is a delicious eating- 
apple of good size. An apple of more recent intro- 
duction and extremely hardy (hailing first from 
Russia), and already replacing the above sorts, is 
Livland (Livland Raspberry). The tree is of good 
form, very vigorous and healthy. The fruit is ready 
almost as soon as Yellow Transparent, and is of 
much better quality for eating. In appearance it is 
exceptionally handsome, being of good size, regular 
form and having those beautiful red shades found 
almost exclusively in the later apples. The flesh is 



192 •Home Vegetable Gardening 

bright white, reddish sub-skin, tender and of an 
agreeable sourish flavor. Another good early is 
Chenango (Chenango Strawberry). It is not so 
well known, nor so much appreciated as it should 
be, for two of its characteristics have mitigated 
against its commercial use, and these same char- 
acteristics add to its value in a home orchard. First, 
it does not attain a very large size; and second, it 
is a ''successive" ripener, the maturing of its fruits 
being stretched throughout September. In shape 
it is oblong, not very regular; in color, yellow un- 
derground, with attractive red, irregular stripes 
overlaid. It is essentially an eating-apple, being too 
mild for cooking purposes. 

Among the autumn group my preference is Por- 
ter, for an early sort, handsome and regular in 
shape, and of an attractive ripe yellow color. I 
remember how the first windfalls from the two trees 
in our orchard used to be prized in the daily hunts 
after school, and very often, when no one was look- 
ing from the house, the force of gravity seemed to 
have a strangely selective action in the case of the 
biggest fruits. Gravenstein is another early, well 
and favorably known. For late autumn sorts, 
Mcintosh Red is without an equal. The color is 
one of the most tempting reds of any apple grown, 
shading to dark velvet, overspread with a delicate 
bloom, in form remarkably even and round. Its 



Fruit Varieties 



193 



quality is fully up to its appearance. The white, 
crisp-breaking flesh, most aromatic, deliciously sub- 
acid, makes it ideal for eating. A neighbor of mine 
sold $406 worth of fruit from twenty trees to one 
dealer. For such a splendid apple Mcintosh is re- 
markably hardy and vigorous, succeeding over a 
very wide territory, and climate severe enough to 
kill many of the other newer varieties. The 
Fameiise (widely known as the Snow) is an ex- 
cellent variety for northern sections. It resembles 
the Mcintosh, which some claim to be derived from 
it. Fall Pippin, Pound Sweet and Twenty Ounce, 
are other popular late autumns. 

In the winter section, Baldwin, which is too well 
known to need describing, is the leading commer- 
cial variety in many apple districts, and it is a good 
variety for home growing on account of its hardi- 
ness and good cooking and keeping qualities; but 
for the home orchard, it is far surpassed in quality 
by several others. In northern sections, down to 
the corn line, Northern Spy is a great favorite. It 
is a large, roundish apple, with thin, tender, glossy 
skin, light to deep carmine over light yellow, and 
an excellent keeper. In sections to which it is 
adapted it is a particularly vigorous, compact, up- 
right grower. Jonathan is another splendid sort, 
with a wider range of conditions favorable for 
growth. It is, however, not a strong-growing tree 

13 



194 Home Vegetable Gardening 



and is somewhat uncertain in maturing its fruit, 
which is a bright, clear red of distinctive flavor. It 
likes a soil with more clay than do most apples. 
In the Middle West and Middle South, Grimes 
(Golden) has made a great local reputation in many 
sections, although in others it has not done well 
at all. 

The Spitzenberg (Esopus) is very near the top 
of the list of all late eating-apples, being at its prime 
about December. It is another handsome yellow- 
covered red apple, with flesh slightly yellowish, but 
very good to the taste. The tree, unfortunately, is 
not a robust grower, being especially weak in its 
earlier stages, but with good cultivation it will not 
fail to reward the grower for any extra care it may 
have required. 

These, and the other notable varieties, which 
there is not room here to describe, make up the 
following list, from which the planter should select 
according to locality: 

Earliest or Summer: — Early Harvest, Yellow 
Transparent, Red Astrachan, Benoni (new), Che- 
nango, Sweet Bough, Williams' Favorite, Early 
Strawberry, Livland Raspberry. 

Early Autumn: — Alexander, Duchess, Porter, 
Gravenstein, Mcintosh Red. 

Late Autumn: — Jefiferies, Fameuse (Snow), 
Maiden's Blush, Wealthy, Fall Pippin, Pound 



Fruit Varieties 195 



Sweet, Twenty Ounce, Cox Orange, Hubbardston. 

Winter: — Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, 
Northwestern Greening, Jonathan, Northern Spy, 
Yellow, Swaar, Delicious, Wagener, King, Esopus, 
Spitzenberg, Yellow Bellflower, Winter Banana, 
Seek-no-further, Talman Sweet, Roxbury Russett, 
King David, Stayman's Winesap, Wolf River. 

PEARS 

Pears are more particular than apples in the mat- 
ter of being adapted to sections and soils. Submit 
your list to your State Experiment Station before 
ordering trees. Many of the standard sorts may 
be had where a low-growing, spreading tree is 
desired (for instance, quince-stock pears might be 
used to change places with the plums in the diagram 
on page 189). Varieties suitable for this method 
are listed below. They are given approximately in 
the order of the ripening: 

Wilder : Early August, medium in size, light yel- 
low, excellent quality. Does not rot at the core, 
as so many early pears are liable to do. 

Margaret: Oblong, greenish, yellow to dull red. 

Clapp Favorite: Very large, yellow pear. A 
great bearer and good keeper — where the children 
cannot get at it. 

Howell: A little later than the foregoing; large, 
bright yellow, strong-growing tree and big bearer. 



196 Home Vegetable Gardening 



Duchesse d'Angouleme : Large greenish yellow, 
sometimes reaching huge size; will average better 
than three-quarters of a pound. The quality, despite 
its size, is splendid. 

Seckel : Small in size, but renowned for exquisite 
flavor — being probably the most universally ad- 
mired of all. 

Beurre Superfine : October, medium size, excellent 
quality. 

Bartlett : The best known of all pears, and a uni- 
versal favorite. Succeeds in nearly all sections. 

Anjou : One of the best keepers, and very pro- 
ductive. One of the best in flavor, rich and vinous. 

For trees of the standard type the following are 
worthy of note : 

Congress (Souvenir du C.) : A very large sum- 
mer sort. Handsome. 

Belle Lucrative : September to October. 

Winter Nelis : Medium size, but of excellent 
quality and the longest keeper. 

Kieffer: Very popular for its productiveness, 
strength of growth and exceptional quality of fruit 
for canning and preserving. Large fruit, if kept 
thinned. Should have a place in every home 
garden. 

Josephine de Malines : Not a great yielder but 
of the very highest quality, being of the finest tex- 
ture and tempting aroma. 



Fruit Varieties 



197 



PEACHES 

Success with peaches also will depend largely 
upon getting varieties adapted to climate. The 
white-fleshed type is the hardiest and best for eat- 
ing ; and the free-stones are for most purposes, espe- 
cially in the home garden, more desirable than the 
"chngs." 

Greensboro is the best early variety. Crawford 
is a universal favorite and goes well over a wide 
range of soil and climate. Champion is one of the 
best quality peaches and exceptionally hardy. El- 
berta, Ray, and Hague are other excellent sorts. 
Mayflower is the earliest sort yet introduced. 

PLUMS 

The available plums are of three classes — the na- 
tives, Europeans and Japans; the natives are the 
longest-lived, hardier in tree and blossom, and 
heavier bearers. 

The best early is Milton ; brilliant red, yellow and 
juicy flesh. Wildgoose and Whitaker are good 
seconds. Mrs. Cleveland is a later and larger sort, 
of finer quality. Three late-ripening plums of the 
finest quality, but not such prolific yielders, are 
Wayland, Benson and Reed, and where there is 
room for only a few trees, these will be best. They 
will need one tree of Newm.an or Prairie Flower 



198 Home Vegetable Gardening 

with them to assure setting of the fruit. Of the 
Europeans, use Reine Claude (the best), Brad- 
shaw or Shropshire. Damson is also good. The 
Japanese varieties should go on high ground and 
be thinned, especially during their first years. My 
first experience with Japanese plums convinced me 
that I had solved the plum problem ; they bore loads 
of fruit, and were free from disease. That was five 
years ago. Last spring the last one was cut and 
burned. Had they been planted at the top of a 
small hill, instead of at the bottom, as they were, 
and restricted in their bearing, I know from later 
experience that they would still be producing fruit. 
The most satisfactory varieties of the Japanese type 
are Abundance and Red June. Burbank is also 
highly recommended. 

CHERRIES 

Cherries have one advantage over the other fruits 
— they give quicker returns. But, as far as my ex- 
perience goes, they are not as long-lived. The sour 
type is hardier, at least north of New Jersey, than 
the sweet. It will probably pay to try a few of the 
new and highly recommended varieties. Of the 
established sorts Early Richmond is a good early, 
to be followed by Montmorency and English 
Morello, 



Peach trees come into bearing in three years, so they are 
frequently used as "fillers" between the rows of slower trees 




Two crops on the same ground at the same time — fruit and 
poultry. The chickens help to keep in check the devastating 
hordes of insects 



A plum tree in full bearing. Low-headed trees 
are come to stay. They are less liable to 
damage by wind and facilitate the gathering 
of fruit 



Fruit Varieties 



199 



Windsor is a good sweet cherry, as are also 
Black Tartarian, Sox, Wood and Yellow Spanish. 

All the varieties mentioned above are proved 
sorts. But the lists are being added to constantly, 
and where there is a novelty strongly recommended 
by a reliable nurseryman it will often pay to try 
it out — on a very small scale at first. 



Chapter XVI 



PLANTING : CULTIVATION : FILLER CROPS 

AS the pedigree and the quality of the stock 
you plant will have a great deal to do with 
the success or failure of your adventure in 
orcharding, even on a very small scale, it is im- 
portant to get the best trees you can, anywhere, at 
any price. But do not jump to the conclusion that 
the most costly trees will be the best. From relia- 
ble nurserymen, selling direct by mail, you can get 
good trees at very reasonable prices. 

As a general thing you will succeed best if you 
have nothing to do with the perennial *'tree agent." 
He may represent a good firm; you may get your 
trees on time ; he may have a novelty as good as the 
standard sorts ; but you are taking three very great 
chances in assuming so. But, leaving these ques- 
tions aside, there is no particular reason why you 
should help pay his traveling expenses and the 
printing bills for his lithographs ("made from 
actual photographs" or "painted from nature," of 
course!) when you can get the best trees to be had, 

(200) 



Fruit Cultivation 201 



direct from the soil in which they are grown, at the 
lowest prices, by ordering through the mail. Or, 
better still, if the nursery is not too far away, take 
half a day off and select them in person. If you 
want to help the agent along present him with the 
amount of his commission, but get your trees direct 
from some large reliable nursery. 

Well grown nursery stock will stand much abuse, 
but it will not be at all improved by it. Do not 
let yours stand around in the sun and wind, waiting 
until you get a chance to set it out. As soon as you 
get it home from the express office, unpack it and 
^'heel it in," in moist, but not wet, ground ; if under 
a shed, so much the better. Dig out a narrow trench 
and pack it in as thick as it will go, at an angle of 
forty-five degrees to the natural position when 
growing. So stored, it will keep a long time in 
cold weather, only be careful that no rats, mice, or 
rabbits reach it. 

Do not, however, depend upon this knowledge to 
the extent of letting all your preparations for plant- 
ing go until your stock is on hand. Be ready to 
set it the day it arrives, if possible. 

PLANTING 

Planting can be done in either spring or fall. As 
a general rule, north of Philadelphia and St. Louis, 
spring planting will be best; south of that, fall 



202 Home Vegetable Gardening 

planting. Where there is apt to be severe freezing, 
''heaving," caused by the alternate freezing and 
thawing ; injury to the newly set roots from too se- 
vere cold; and, in some western sections, ''sun- 
scald" of the bark, are three injuries which may 
result. If trees are planted in the fall in cold sec- 
tions, a low mound of earth, six to twelve inches 
high, should be left during the winter about each, 
and leveled down in the spring. If set in the spring, 
where hot, dry weather is apt to follow, they should 
be thoroughly mulched with litter, straw or coarse 
manure, to preserve moisture — care being taken, 
however, against field mice and other rodents. 

The trees may either be set in their permanent 
positions as soon as bought, or grown in "nursery 
rows" by the purchaser for one or two years after 
being purchased. In the former case, it will be the 
best policy to get the strongest, straightest two-year 
stock you can find, even if they cost ten or fifteen 
cents apiece more than the "mediums." The former 
method is the usual one, but the latter has so many 
advantages that I give it the emphasis of a separate 
paragraph, and urge every prospective planter to 
consider it carefully. 

In the first place, then, you get your trees a little 
cheaper. If you purchase for nursery row planting, 
six-foot to seven-foot two-year-old apple trees, of 
the standard sorts, should cost you about thirty 



Fruit Cultivation 203 



cents each; one-year "buds," six feet and branched, 
five to ten cents less. This gain, however, is not an 
important one — there are four others, each of which 
makes it worth while to give the method a trial. 
First, the trees being all together, and in a con- 
venient place, the chances are a hundred to one that 
you will give them better attention in the way of 
spraying, pruning and cultivating — all extremely 
important in the first year's growth. Second, with 
the year gained for extra preparation of the soil 
where they are to be placed permanently, you can 
make conditions just right for them to take hold at 
once and thrive as they could not do otherwise. 
Third, the shock of transplanting will be much less 
than when they are shipped from a distance — ^they 
will have made an additional growth of dense, short 
roots and they will have become acclimated. 
Fourth, you will not have wasted space and time 
with any backward black sheep among the lot, as 
these should be discarded at the second planting. 
And then there is one further reason, psychological 
perhaps, but none the less important ; you will watch 
these little trees, which are largely the result of 
your own labor and care, when set in their perma- 
nent positions, much more carefully than you would 
those direct from the nursery. I know, both from 
experience and observation, how many thrifty 
young trees in the home orchard are done to an un- 



204 Home Vegetable Gardening 



timely death by children, careless workmen, and 
other animals. 

So if you can put a twelve-month curb on your 
impatience, get one-year trees and set them out in 
a straight row right in your vegetable garden w^here 
they will take up very little room. Keep them culti- 
vated just as thoroughly as the rest of your growing- 
things. Melons, or beans, or almost any low- 
growang vegetable can be grown close beside them. 

If you want your garden to pay for your whole 
lot of fruit trees this season dig up a hole about' 
three feet in diameter wherever a tree is to go per- 
manently. Cut the sod up fine and work in four 
or five good forkfuls of well rotted manure, and on 
these places, when it is warm enough, plant a hill 
of lima pole-beans — the new^ sort named Giant- 
podded Pole Lima is the best I have yet seen. Place 
a stout pole, eight to ten feet high, firmly in each 
hole. Good lima beans are always in demand, and 
bring high prices. 

Let us suppose that your trees are at hand, either 
direct from the nursery or growing in the garden. 
You have selected, if possible, a moist, gravelly 
loam on a slope or slight elevation, where it is nat- 
urally and perfectly drained. Good soil drainage 
is imperative. Coarse gravel in the bottom of the 
planting hole will help out temporarily. If the land 
is in clover sod, it will have the ideal preparation, 



Fruit Cultivation 



205 



especially if you can grow a patch of potatoes or 
corn on it one year, while your trees are getting] 
further growth. In such land the holes will not 
have to be prepared. If, however, you are not 
fortunate enough to be able to devote such a space 
to fruit trees, and in order to have them at all must 
place them along your wall or scattered through 
the grounds (as suggested in the diagram, page 
189), you can still give them an excellent start by 
enriching the soil in spots beforehand, as suggested 
above in growing lima beans. In the event of 
finding even this last way inapplicable to your land, 
the following method will make success certain : 
Dig out holes three to six feet in diameter (if the 
soil is very hard, the larger dimension), and twelve 
to eighteen inches deep. Mix thoroughly with the 
excavated soil a good barrowful of the oldest, finest 
manure you can get, combined with about one- 
fourth or one-fifth its weight of South Carolina 
rock (or acid phosphate, if you cannot get the 
rock). It is a good plan to compost the manure 
and rock in advance, or use the rock as an absorbent 
in the stable. Fill in the hole again, leaving room 
in the center to set the tree without bending or 
cramping any roots. \Miere any of these are in- 
jured or bruised, cut them off clean at the injured 
spot with a sharp knife. Shorten any that are long 
and straggling about one-third to one-half their 



2o6 Home Vegetable Gardening 



length. Properly grown stock should not be in any 
such condition. 

Remember that a well planted tree will give more 
fruit in the first ten years than three trees carelessly 
put in. Get the tree so that it w^ill be one to three 
inches deeper in the soil than when growing in the 
nursery. Work the soil in firmly about the roots 
with the fingers or a blunt wooden ''tamper" ; do 
not be afraid to use your feet. When the roots are 
well covered, firm the tree in by putting all your 
weight upon the soil around it. See that it is 
planted straight, and if the ''whip," or small trunk, 
is not straight stake it, and tie it with rye straw, 
rafiia or strips of old cloth — never string or wire. 
If the soil is very dry, water the root copiously 
while planting until the soil is about half filled in, 
never on the surface, as that is likely to cause a 
crust to form and keep out the air so necessary to 
healthy growth. 

Prune back the "leader" of the tree — the top 
above the first lateral branches, about one-half. 
Peach trees should be cut back more severely. Fur- 
ther information in regard to pruning, and the dif- 
ferent needs of the various fruits in regard to this 
important matter, will be given in the next chapter. 

SETTING 

Standard apple trees, fully grown, will require 



Fruit Cultivation 207 

thirty to forty-five feet of space between them each 
way. It takes, however, ten or twelve years after 
the trees are set before all of this space is needed. 
A system of ''fillers," or inter-planting, has come 
into use as a result of this, which will give at least 
one hundred per cent, more fruit for the first ten 
years. Small-growing standards, standard varieties 
on dwarf stock, and also peaches, are used for this 
purpose in commercial orchards. But the principle 
may be applied with equally good results to the 
home orchard, or even to the planting of a few scat- 
tered trees. The standard dwarfs give good satisfac- 
tion as permanent fillers. Where space is very lim- 
ited, or the fruit must go into the garden, they may 
be used in place of the standard sorts altogether. 
The dwarf trees are, as a rule, not so long-lived as 
the standards, and to do their best, need more care 
in fertilizing and manuring; but the fruit is just as 
good ; just as much, or more, can be grown on the 
same area; and the trees come into bearing two to 
three years sooner. They cost less to begin with 
and are also easier to care for, in spraying and 
pruning and in picking the fruit. 

CULTIVATION 

The home orcnard, to give the very finest quality 
of fruit, must be given careful and thorough culti- 
vation. In the case of scattered trees, where it is 



2o8 Home Vegetable Gardening 

not practicable to use a horse, this can be given by 
working a space four to six feet wide about each 
tree. Every spring the soil should be loosened up, 
with the cultivator or fork, as the case may be, and 
kept stirred during the early part of the summer. 
Unless the soil is rich, a fertilizer, high in potash 
and not too high in nitrogen, should be given in the 
spring. Manure and phosphate rock, as suggested 
above, is as good as any. In case the foliage is 
not a deep healthy green, apply a few handfuls of 
nitrate of soda, working it into the soil just before 
a rain, around each tree. 

About August I St the cultivation should be dis- 
continued, and some ''cover crop" sown. Buckwheat 
and crimson clover is a good combination; as the 
former makes a rapid growth it will form, if rolled 
down just as the apples are ripening, a soft cushion 
upon which the windfalls may drop without injury, 
and will furnish enough protection to the crimson 
clover to carry it through most winters, even in cold 
climates. 

In addition to the filler crops, where the ground 
is to be cultivated by horse, potatoes may be grown 
between the rows of trees; or fine hills of melons 
or squash may be grown around scattered trees, 
thus, incidentally, saving a great deal of space in the 
vegetable garden. Or why not grow a few extra 
fancy strawberries in the well cultivated spots about 



Fruit Cultivation 209 



these trees? Neither they nor the trees want the 
ground too rich, especially in nitrogen, and condi- 
tions suiting the one would be just right for the 
others. 

It may seem to the beginner that fruit-growing, 
with all these things to keep in mind, is a difficult 
task. But it is not. I think I am perfectly safe in 
saying that the rewards from nothing else he can 
plant and care for are as certain, and surely none 
are more satisfactory. If you cannot persuade your- 
self to try fruit on any larger plan, at least order 
half a dozen dwarf trees (they will cost about 
twenty cents apiece, and can be had by mail). They 
Avill prove about the best paying investment you 
ever made. 



14 



Chapter XVII 



PRUNING^ SPRAYING, HARVESTING 

THE day has gone, probably forever, when 
setting out fruit trees and giving them 
occasional cultivation, ''plowing up the or- 
chard" once in several years, would produce fruit. 
Apples and pears and peaches have occupied no 
preferred position against the general invasion of 
the realm of horticulture by insect and fungous ene- 
mies. The fruits have, indeed, suffered more than 
most plants. Nevertheless there is this encouraging 
fact : that, though the fruits may have been severely 
attacked, the means we now have of fighting fruit- 
tree enemies, if thoroughly used, as a rule are more 
certain of accomplishing their purpose, and keeping 
the enemies completely at bay, than are similar 
weapons in any other line of horticultural work. 

With fruit trees, as with vegetables and flowers, 
the most important precaution to be taken against 
insects and disease is to have them in a healthy, 
thriving, growing condition. It is a part of Na- 
ture's law of the survival of the fittest that any 

(2IO) 



Pruning 



211 



backward or weakling plant or tree seems to fall 
first prey to the ravages of destructive forces. 

For these reasons the double necessity of main- 
taining at all times good fertilization and thorough 
cultivation will be seen. In addition to these two 
factors, careful attention in the matter of pruning 
is essential in keeping the trees in a healthy, robust 
condition. As explained in a previous chapter, the 
trees should be started right by pruning the first 
season to the open-head or vase shape, which fur- 
nishes the maximum of light and air to all parts of 
the tree. Three or four main branches should form 
the basis of the head, care being taken not to have 
them start from directly opposite points on the 
trunk, thus forming a crotch and leaving the tree 
liable to splitting from winds or excessive crops. If 
the tree is once started right, further pruning will 
give little trouble. Cut out limbs which cross, or 
are likely to rub against each other, or that are too 
close together; and also any that are broken, de- 
cayed, or injured in any way. For trees thus given 
proper attention from the start, a short jackknife 
will be the only pruning instrument required. 

The case of the old orchard is more difficult. 
Cutting out too many of the old, large limbs at one 
time is sure to give a severe shock to the vitality 
of the tree. A better plan is, first, to cut off close 
all suckers and all small new-growth limbs, except 



212 Home Vegetable Gardening 

a few of the most promising, which may be left to 
be developed into large limbs; and then as these 
new limbs grow on, gradually to cut out, using a 
fine-tooth saw and painting the exposed surfaces, 
the surplus old w^ood. Apples will need more prun- 
ing than the other fruits. Pears and cherries need 
the least; cutting back the ends of limbs enough to 
keep the trees in good form, with the removal of an 
occasional branch for the purpose of letting in light 
and air, is all the pruning they will require. Of 
course trees growing on rich ground, and well cul- 
tivated, will require more cutting back than those 
growing under poorer conditions. A further pur- 
pose of pruning is to effect indirectly a thinning of 
the fruit, so that what is grown will be larger and 
more valuable, and also that the trees may not be- 
come exhausted by a few exceptionally heavy crops. 

On trees that have been neglected and growing 
slowly the bark sometimes becomes hard and set. 
In such cases it will prove beneficial to scrape the 
bark and give a wash applied with an old broom. 
Whitewash is good for this purpose, but soda or 
lye answers the same purpose and is less disagreea- 
bly conspicuous. Slitting the bark of trunks and the 
largest limbs is sometimes resorted to, care being 
taken to cut through the bark only; but such prac- 
tice is objectionable because it leaves ready access 
to some forms of fungous disease and to borers. 



i 



Spraying 213 

Where extra fine specimens of fruit are desired, 
thinning is practiced. It helps also to prevent the 
tree from being overtaxed by excessive crops. But 
where pruning is thoroughly done this trouble is 
usually avoided. Peaches and Japan plums are 
especially benefited by thinning, as they have a great 
tendency to overbear. The spread of fruit diseases, 
especially rot in the fruit itself, is also to some 
extent checked. 

Of fruit-tree enemies there are some large sorts 
which may do great damage in short order — rab- 
bits and field mice. They may be kept away by 
mechanical protection, such as wire, or by heaping 
the earth up to a height of twelve inches about the 
tree trunk. Or they may be caught with poisoned 
baits, such as boiled grain in which a little Rough 
on Rats or similar poison has been mixed. The 
former method for the small home garden is little 
trouble, safer to Fido and Tabby, and the most re- 
liable in effect. 

Insects and scale diseases are not so easily man- 
aged ; and that brings us to the question of spraying 
and of sprays. 

For large orchards the spray must, of course, be 
applied with powerful and expensive machinery. 
For the small fruit garden a much simpler and very 
moderate priced apparatus may be acquired. The 
most practical of these is the brass-tank com- 



214 Home Vegetable Gardening 

pressed-air sprayer, with extension rod and mist- 
spray nozzle. Or one of the knapsack sprayers may 
be used. Either of these will be of great assistance 
not only with the fruit trees, but everywhere in the 
garden. With care they will last a good many 
years. Whatever type you get, be sure to get a 
brass machine; as cheaper ones, made of other 
metal, quickly corrode from contact with the strong- 
poisons used. 

APPLE ENEMIES 

The insects most commonly attacking the apple 
are the codlin-moth, tent-caterpillar, canker-worm 
and borer. The codlin-moth lays its eggs on the 
fruit about the time of the falling of the blossoms, 
and the larvae when hatched eat into the young fruit 
and cause the ordinary wormy apples and pears. 
Owing to these facts, it is too late to reach the trou- 
ble by spraying after the calyx closes on the grow- 
ing fruit. Keep close watch and spray immediately 
upon the fall of the blossoms, and repeat the spray- 
ing a week or so (not more than two) later. For 
spray use Paris green at the rate of i lb., or arsenate 
of lead (paste or powder, less of the latter: see 
accompanying directions) at the rate of 4 lbs. to 
100 gallons of water, being careful to have a thor- 
ough mixture. During July, tie strips of burlap 
or old bags around the trunks, and every week or so 




Prune trees to secure an npvn cciiier. Cut out 
all limbs that cross one another 




The efficiency of spraying depends upon the 
thoroughness with which the hquid is apphed 
— cover every twig. A compressed air tank 
sprayer with extension rod is seen here 



Spraying 



215 



destroy all caterpillars caught in these traps. The 
tent-caterpillar may be destroyed while in the egg 
state, as these are plainly visible around the smaller 
twigs in circular, brownish masses. (See illus- 
tration.) Upon hatching, also, the nests are 
obtrusively visible and may be wiped out w^ith a 
swab of old bag, or burned with a kerosene torch. 
Be sure to apply this treatment before the cater- 
pillar begins to leave the nest. The treatment 
recommended for codlin-moths is also effective for 
the tent-caterpillar. 

The canker-worm is another leaf-feeding enemy, 
and can be taken care of by the Paris green or 
arsenate spray. 

The railroad-worm, a small wliite maggot which 
eats a small path in all directions through the ripen- 
ing fruit, cannot be reached by spraying, as he 
starts, life inside the fruit; but where good clean 
tillage is practiced and no fallen fruit is left to lie 
and decay under the trees, he is not apt to give much 
trouble. 

The borer's presence is indicated by the dead, 
withered appearance of the bark, beneath which he 
is at work, and also by small amounts of sawdust 
where he entered. Dig him out with a sharp pocket- 
knife, or kill him inside with a piece of wire. 

The most troublesome disease of the apple, espe- 
cially in wet seasons, is the apple-scab, which dis- 



2i6 Home Vegetable Gardening 



figures the fruit, both in size and in appearance, as 
it causes blotches and distortions. Spray with Bor- 
deaux mixture, 5-5-50, or 3-3-50 (see formulas 
below) three times: just before the blossoms open, 
just as they fall, and ten days to two weeks after 
they fall. The second spraying is considered the 
most important. 

The San Jose scale is of course really an insect, 
though in appearance it seems a disease. It is much 
more injurious than the untrained fruit grower 
would suppose, because indirectly so. It is very 
tin}^, being round in outline, with a raised center, 
and only the size of a small pinhead. Where it has 
once obtained a good hold it multiplies very rapidly, 
makes a scaly formation or crust on the branches, 
and causes small red-edged spots on the fruit (see 
illustration). For trees once infested, spray thor- 
oughly both in fall, after the leaves drop, and again 
in spring, before growth begins. Use lime-sulphur 
wash, or miscible oil, one part to ten of water, thor- 
oughly mixed. 

CHERRY ENEMIES 

Sour cherries are more easily grown than the 
sw^eet varieties, and are less subject to the attacks 
of fruit enemies. Sweet cherries are troubled by 
the curculio, or fruit-worm, which attacks also 
peaches and plums. Cherries and plums may be 
sprayed, when most of the blossoms are off, with a 



Spraying 



217 



strong arsenate of lead solution, 5 to 8 lbs. to 100 
gals, water. In addition to this treatment, where 
the worms have once got a start, the beetles may 
be destroyed by spreading a sheet around and be- 
neath the tree, and every day or so shaking or 
jarring them off into it, as described below. 

PEACH ENEMIES 

Do not spray peaches. For the curculio, within a 
few days after the flowers are ofif, take a large sheet 
of some cheap material to use as a catcher. For 
large orchards there is a contrivance of this sort, 
mounted on a wheelbarrow frame, but for the home 
orchard a couple of sheets laid upon the ground, or 
one with a slit from one side to the center, will 
answer. If four short, sharp-pointed stakes are 
fastened to the corners, and three or four stout 
hooks and eyes are placed to reunite the slit after 
the sheet is placed about the tree, the work can be 
more thoroughly done, especially on uneven ground. 
After the sheet is placed, with a stout club or mallet, 
padded with a heavy sack or something similar to 
prevent injury to the bark, give a few sharp blows, 
well up from the ground. This work should be 
done on a cloudy day, or early in the morning — the 
colder the better — as the beetles are then inactive. 
If a considerable number of beetles are caught the 
operation should be repeated every two or three 
days. Continue until the beetles disappear. 



2i8 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Peaches are troubled also by borers, in this case 
indicated by masses of gum, usually about the 
crown. Dig out or kill with a wire, as in the case 
of the apple-borer. Look over the trees for borers 
every spring, or better, every spring and fall. 

Another peach enemy is the ''yellows," indicated 
by premature ripening of the fruit and the forma- 
tion of stunted leaf tufts, of a light yellow color. 
This disease is contagious and has frequently 
worked havoc in whole sections. Owing to the 
work of the Agricultural Department and the vari- 
ous State organizations it is now held in check. The 
only remedy is to cut and burn the trees and replant, 
in the same places if desired, as the disease does not 
seem to be carried by the soil. 

PEAR ENEMIES 

Pears are sometimes affected with a scab similar 
to the apple-scab, and this is combated by the same 
treatment — three sprayings with Bordeaux. 

A blight which causes the leaves suddenly to turn 
black and die and also kills some small branches 
and produces sores or wounds on large branches 
and trunk, offers another difficulty. Cut out and 
burn all affected branches and scrape out all sores. 
Disinfect all sores with corrosive sublimate solution 
— I to 1000 — or with a torch, and paint over at 
once. 



Plums sHghth' infested with San Jose 
and its attendant discoloration 




^lale scale surrounded by 3-oung seal 
in various sizes — greatly enlarged 



Spraying 



219 



PLUM ENEMIES 

Plums have many enemies but fortunately they 
can all be effectively checked. First is the curculio, 
to be treated as described above. 

For leaf-blight — spotting and dropping off of the 
leaves about midsummer — spray with Bordeaux 
within a week or so after the falling of the blos- 
soms. This treatment will also help to prevent 
fruit-rot. In addition to the spraying, however, 
thin out the fruit so that it does not hang thickly 
enough for the plums to come in contact with each 
other. 

In a well kept and well sprayed orchard black-knot 
is not at all likely to appear. It is very manifest 
wherever it starts, causing ugly, black, distorted 
knarls, at first on the smaller limbs. Remove and 
burn immediately, and keep a sharp watch for more. 
As this disease is supposed to be carried by the 
wind, see to it that no careless neighbor is supplying 
you with the germs. 

As will have been seen from the above, spraying 
poisons are of two kinds : those that work by con- 
tact, which must be used for most sucking insects, 
and germs and fungous diseases; and those that 
poison internally, used for leaf-eating insects. Of 
the former sort, Bordeaux mixture is the standard, 
although within the last few years it has been to a 
considerable extent replaced by lime-sulphur mix- 



220 



Home Vegetable Gardening 



tures, which are described below. Bordeaux is 
made in various forms. That usually used is the 
5-5-50, or 5 lbs. copper sulphate, 5 lbs. unslaked 
lime, 50 gals, water. To save the trouble of making 
up the mixture each time it is needed make a stock 
solution as foUow^s : dissolve the copper sulphate 
in water at the rate of i lb. to i gal. This should 
be done the day before, or at least several hours 
before, the Bordeaux is wanted for use. Suspend 
the sulphate crystals in a cloth or old bag just below 
the surface of the water. Then slake the lime in a 
tub or tight box, adding the water a little at a time, 
imtil the whole attains the consistency of thick milk. 
AMien necessary, add water to this mixture if it is 
kept too long ; never let it dry out. \\lien ready 
to spray, pour the stock copper sulphate solution 
into the tank in the proportion of 5 gals, to every 
50 of spray required. Add water to amount re- 
quired. Then add stock lime solution, first diluting 
about one-half with water and straining. The 
amount of lime stock solution to be used is deter- 
mined as follows : at the druggist's get an ounce of 
yellow prussiate of potash dissolved in a pint of 
water, with a quill in the cork of the bottle so 
that it may be dropped out. (It is poison.) When 
adding the stock lime solution as directed above, 
continue until the prussiate testing solution when 
dropped into the Bordeaux mixture will no longer 



Spraying 



221 



turn brown ; then add a little more lime to be on the 
safe side. All this sounds like a formidable task, 
but it is quite simple when you really get at it. 
Remember that all you need is a few pounds each 
of quicklime and copper sulphate, an ounce of prus- 
siate of potash and a couple of old kegs or large 
pails, in which to keep the stock solutions. 

Lime-sulphur mixtures can be bought, or mixed 
by the home orchardist. They have the advantages 
over Bordeaux that they do not discolor the foliage 
or affect the appearance of the fruit. Use accord- 
ing to directions, usually about i part to 30 of 
water. These may be used at the same times and 
for the same purposes as Bordeaux. 

Lime-sulphur wash is used largely in commercial 
orcharding, but it is a nasty mess to prepare and 
must be used in late fall or winter. For the home 
orchard one of the miscible oils now advertised will 
be found more satisfactory. While they cost more, 
there is no time or expense for preparation, as they 
mix with cold water and are immediately ready for 
use. They are easier to apply, more comfortable to 
handle, and will not so quickly rot out pumps and 
spraying apparatus. Like the sulphur wash, use 
only during late fall and winter. 

Kerosene emulsion is made by dissolving Ivory, 
soft, whale-oil, or tar soap in hot water and adding 
(away from the stove, please!) kerosene (or crude 



222 Home Vegetable Gardening 



oil) ; y2 lb. soap, i gal. water, 2 gals, kerosene. 
Immediately place in a pail and churn or pump until 
a thick, lathery cream results. This is the stock 
solution : for use, dilute with five to fifteen times 
as much water, according to purpose applied for — 
on dormant fruit trees, 5 to 7 times; on foliage, 
10 or even 15. 

Of the poisons for eating-insects, arsenate of lead 
is the best for use in the fruit orchard, because it 
will not burn the foliage as Paris green is apt to 
do, and because it stays on longer. It can be used 
in Bordeaux and lime-sulphur mixtures, thus kill- 
ing two bugs with one spray. It comes usually in 
the form of a paste — though there is now a brand 
in powder form (which I have not yet tried). This 
should be worked up with the fingers (it is not 
poison to touch) or a small wooden paddle, until 
thoroughly mixed, in a small quantity of water and 
then strained into the sprayer. Use, of the paste 
forms, from one-fourth to one lb. in 20 gals, clear 
water. 

Paris green is the old standard. With a modern 
duster it may be blown on pure without burning, if 
carefully done. Applied thus it should be put on 
during a still morning, before the dew goes. It is 
safer to use as a spray, first making a paste with a 
small quantity of water, and then adding balance 
of water. Keep constantly stirred while spraying. 



Harvesting 



223 



If lime is added, weight for weight with the green, 
the chances of burning will be greatly reduced. For 
orchard work, i lb. to 100 gals, water is the usual 
strength. 

The accompanying table will enable the home 
orchardist to find quickly the trouble with, and 
remedy for, any of his fruit trees. 

The quality of fruit will depend very largely upon 
the care exercised in picking and storing. Picking, 
carelessly done, while it may not at the time show 
any visible bad results, will result in poor keeping 
and rot. If the tissue cells are broken, as many will 
be by rough handling, they will be ready to cause 
rotten spots under the first favorable conditions, and 
then the rot will spread. Most of the fruits of the 
home garden, which do not have to undergo ship- 
ping, will be of better quality where they ripen fully 
on the tree. Pears, however, are often ripened in 
the dark and after picking, especially the winter 
sorts. Apples and pears for winter use should be 
kept, if possible, in a cold, dark place, where there 
is no artificial heat, and w^here the air will be moist, 
but never wet, and where the thermometer will not 
fall below thirty-two degrees. Upon exceptionally 
cold nights the temperature may be kept up by using 
an oil stove or letting in heat from the furnace cel- 
lar, if that is adjacent. In such a place, store the 
fruit loosely, on ventilated shelves, not more than 



Harvesting 



225 



six or eight inches deep If they must be kept in a 
heated place, pack in tight boxes or barrels, being 
careful to put away only perfect fruit, or pack in 
sand or leaves. Otherwise they will lose much in 
quality by shriveling, due to lack of moisture in the 
atmosphere. With care they may be had in prime 
quality until late in the following spring. 

Do not let yourself be discouraged from growing 
your own fruit by the necessity for taking good 
care of your trees. After all, you do not have to 
plant them every year, as you do vegetables, and 
they yield a splendid return on the small invest- 
ment required. Do not fail to set out at least a few 
this year with the full assurance that your satisfac- 
tion is guaranteed by the facts in the case. 



15 



Chapter XVIII 



BERRIES AND SMALL FRUITS 

BESIDES the tree-fruits discussed in the pre- 
ceding chapters, there is another class 
which should be represented in every home 
garden — the berries and small fruits. These have 
the advantage of occupying much less room than 
the former do and are therefore available where the 
others are not. 

The methods of giving berries proper cultivation 
are not so generally known as the methods used 
with vegetables. Otherwise there is no reason why 
a few of each should not be included in every garden 
of average size. Their requirements are not exact- 
ing: the amount of skill, or rather of attention, re- 
quired to care for them is not more than that 
required by the ordinary vegetables. In fact, once 
they are well established they will demand less time 
than the annual vegetables. 

Of these small fruits the most popular and useful 
are : the strawberry, the blackberry, dewberry and 
raspberry, the currant, gooseberry and grape. 

(226) 



For what yon would pay for these you could buy a dozen good 
raspberry plants — enough with a little care to yield several 
dozen boxes of fine fruit the following season 




Gooseberries like these may be grown in every garden. With 
the advent of modern sprays the dreaded mildew may be held 
in check 



Berries and Small Fruits 227 

The strawberry is the most important, and most 
amateurs attempt its culture — many, however, with 
indifferent success. This is due, partly at least, to 
the fact that many methods are advocated by suc- 
cessful growers, and that the beginner is not likely 
to pick out one and stick to it ; and further, that he 
is led to pay more attention to how many layers he 
will have, and at what distance he will set the plants, 
than to proper selection and preparation of soil and 
other vital matters. 

The soil should be well drained and rich — a good 
garden soil being suitable. The strawberries should 
not follow sod or corn. If yard manure is used it 
should be old and well rotted, so as to be as free as 
possible from weed seeds. Potash, in some form 
(see Fertilizers) should be added. The bed should 
be thoroughly prepared, so that the plants, which 
need careful transplanting, may take hold at once, 
A good sunny exposure is preferable, and a spot 
where no water will collect is essential. 

The plants are grown from "layers." They are 
taken in two ways : ( i ) by rooting the runners in the 
soil ; and by layering in pots. In the former method 
they are either allowed to root themselves, or, which 
gives decidedly better results, by selecting vines 
from strong plants and pushing them lightly down 
into the soil where the new crown is to be formed. 
In the second method, two-inch or three-inch pots 



2 28 Home Vegetable Gardening 

are used, filling these with soil from the bed and 
plunging, or burying, them level with the surface, 
just below where the crown is to be formed, and 
holding the vine in place with a small stone, which 
serves the additional purpose of marking v/here the 
pot is. In either case these layers are made after 
the fruiting season. 

SETTING THE PLANTS 

In using the soil-rooted layers, it is generally 
more satisfactory to set them out in spring, as soon 
as the ground can be worked, although they are 
sometimes set in early fall — August or September — 
v.'hen the ground is in very good condition, so that 
a good growth can at once be made. Care should 
be used in transplanting. Have the bed fresh ; keep 
the plants out of the soil as short a time as possible ; 
set the plants in straight, and firm the soil ; set just 
down to the crown — do not cover it. If the soil is 
dry, or the season late, cut off all old leaves before 
planting; also shorten back the roots about one- 
third and be sure not to crowd them when setting, 
for which purpose a trowel, not a dibble, should be 
used if the condition of the ground makes the use 
of any implement necessary. If so dry that water 
must be used, apply it in the bottom of the hole. 
If very hot and dry, shade for a day or two. 



Berries and Small Fruits 229 



METHODS OF GROWING 



I describe the three systems most valuable for the 
home garden: (i) the hill, (2) the matted row, and 
(3) the pot-layered, (i) In the hill system the 
plants are put in single rows, or in beds of three or 
four rows, the plants one foot apart and the rows, 
or beds, two or three feet apart. In either case each 
plant is kept separate, and all runners are pinched 
off as fast as they form, the idea being to throw 
all the strength into one strong crown. (2) In the 
matted row system the plants are set in single rows, 
and the runners set in the bed at five or six inches 
each side of the plants, and then trained lengthways 
of the row, this making it a foot or so wide. The 
runners used to make these secondary crowns must 
be the first ones sent out by the plants ; they should 
be severed from the parent plants as soon as well 
rooted. All other runners must be taken off as they 
form. To keep the beds for a good second crop, 
where the space between the rows has been kept 
cultivated and clean, cut out the old plants as soon 
as the first crop of berries is gathered, leaving the 
new ones — layered the year before — about one foot 
apart. (3) The pot-layering system, especially for 
a small number of plants, I consider the best. It 
will be seen that by the above systems the ground 
is occupied three years, to get two crops, and the 



2^o Home Vegetable Gardening 

strawberry season is a short one at best. By this 
third system the strawberry is made practically an 
annual, and the finest of berries are produced. The 
new plants are layered in pots, as described above. 
The layers are taken immediately after the fruit is 
gathered; or better still, because earlier, a few 
plants are picked out especially to make runners. 
In either case, fork up the soil about the plants to 
he layered, and in about fifteen days they will be 
ready to have the pots placed under them. The 
main point is to have pot plants ready to go into 
the new bed as soon as possible after the middle 
of July. These are set out as in the hill system, and 
all runners kept pinched off, so that a large crown 
has been formed by the time the ground freezes, 
and a full crop of the very best berries will be 
assured for the following spring. The pot-layering 
is repeated each year, and the old plants thrown 
out, no attempt being made to get a second crop. It 
will be observed that ground is occupied by the 
strawberries only the latter half of the one season 
and the beginning of the next, leaving ample time 
for a crop of early lettuce, cabbage or peas before 
the plants are set, say in 191 1, and for late cabbage 
or celery after the bed is thrown out, in 19 12. Thus 
the ground is made to yield three crops in two years 
— a very important point where garden space is 
limited. 



Berries and Small Fruits 231 



CULTIVATION 

Whatever system is used — and each has its advo- 
cates — the strawberry bed must be kept clean, and 
attention given to removing the surplus runners. 
Cultivate frequently enough to keep a dust mulch 
between the rows, as advocated for garden crops 
(page 102). At first, after setting, the cultivation 
may be as deep as three or four inches, but as the 
roots develop and fill the ground it should be re- 
stricted to two inches at most. Where a horse is 
used a Planet Jr. twelve-tooth cultivator will be just 
the thing. 

MULCHING 

After the ground freezes, and before severe cold 
sets in (about the ist to the 15th of December) the 
bed should be given its winter mulch. Bog hay, 
which may be obtained cheaply from some nearby 
farmer, is about the best material. Clean straw will 
do. Cover the entire bed, one or two inches over the 
plants, and two or three between the rows. If neces- 
sary, hold in place with old boards. In spring, but 
not before the plants begin to grow, over each 
plant the mulch is pushed aside to let it through. 
Besides giving winter protection, the mulch acts sl^ 
a clean even support for the berries and keeps trie 
roots cool and moist. 



232 Home Vegetable Gardening 



INSECTS AND DISEASE 

For white-grub and cut- worm see pages 165, 167. 
For rust, which frequently injures the leaves so se- 
riously as to cause practical loss of crop, choose 
hardy varieties and change bed frequently. Spray- 
ing with Bordeaux, 5-5-50, four or five times during 
first season plants are set, and second season just 
before and just after blossoming, will prevent it. 
In making up your strawberry list remember that 
some varieties have imperfect, or pistillate blossoms, 
and that when such varieties are used a row of some 
perfect-flowering (bi-sexual) sort must be set every 
nine to twelve feet. 

VARIETIES 

New strawberries are being introduced con- 
stantly; also, they vary greatly in their adaptation 
to locality. Therefore it is difficult to advise as to 
what varieties to plant. The following, however, 
have proved satisfactory over wide areas, and may 
be depended upon to give satisfaction. Early crop : 
— Michel's Early, Haverland, Climax; mid-season 
crop: — Bubach No. 5, Brandywine, Marshall, Nic. 
Ohmer, Wm. Belt, Glen Mary, Sharplesss ; late crop : 
— The Gandy, Sample, Lester Lovett. 

The blackberry, dewberry and raspberry are all 
treated in much the same way. The soil should be 



Berries and Small Fruits 233 



well drained, but if a little clayey, so much -the 
better. They are planned preferably in early spring, 
and set from three or four to six or seven feet apart, 
according to the variety. They should be put in 
firmly. Set the plants in about as deep as they have 
been growing, and cut the canes back to six or eight 
inches. If fruit is wanted the same season as 
bushes are set, get a few extra plants — they cost 
but a few cents — and cut back to two feet or so. 
Plants fruited the first season are not likely to do 
well the following year. Two plants may be set in a 
place and one fruited. If this one is exhausted, then 
little will be lost. Give clean cultivation frequently 
enough to maintain a soil mulch, as it is very neces- 
sary to retain all the moisture possible. Cultiva- 
tion, though frequent, should be very shallow as 
soon as the plants get a good start. In very hot 
seasons, if the ground is clean, a summer mulch of 
old hay, leaves or rough manure will be good for 
the same purpose. 

In growing, a good stout stake is used for each 
plant, to which the canes are tied with some soft 
material. Or, a stout wire is strung the length of 
the row and the canes fastened to this — a better 
way, however, being to string two wires, one on 
either side of the row. 

Another very important matter is that of prun- 
ing. The plants if left to themselves will throw 



2 34 Home Vegetable Gardening 



up altogether too much wood. This must be cut 

out to four or five of the new canes and all the 
canes that have borne fruit should be cut and burned 
each season as soon as through fruiting. The 
canes, for instance, that grow in 191 1 will be those 
to fruit in 19 12. after which they should be imme- 
diately removed. The new canes, if they are to 
be self-supporting, as sometimes grown, should be 
cut back when three or four feet high. 

It is best, however, to give support. In the case 
of those varieties which make fruiting side-shoots, 
as most of the black raspberries (blackcaps) do, 
the canes should be cut back at two to three feet, 
and it is well also to cut back these side shoots one- 
third to one-half, early in the spring. 

In cold sections (Xew York or north of it) it is 
safest to give winter protection by "laying down" the 
canes and giving them a mulch of rough material. 
Having them near the ground is in itself a great 
protection, as they will not be exposed to sun and 
wind and will sometimes be covered with snow. 

For mulching, the canes are bent over nearly at 
the soil and a shovelful of earth thrown on the tips 
to hold them down : the entire canes may then be 
covered with soil or rough manure, but do not put 
it on until freezing weather is at hand. If a mulch 
is used, it must be taken off before growth starts 
in the spring. 



Berries and Small Fruits 235 



THE BLACKBERRY 

The large-growing sorts are set as much as six 
by eight feet apart, though with careful staking and 
pruning they may be comfortably handled in less 
space. The smaller sorts need about four by six. 
When growth starts, thin out to four or five canes 
and pinch these off at about three feet; or, if they 
are to be put on wires or trellis, they may be cut 
when tied up the following spring. Cultivate, mulch 
and prune as suggested above. 

Blackberries will do well on a soil a little dry for 
raspberries and they do not need it quite so rich, 
as in this case the canes do not ripen up sufficiently 
by fall, which is essential for good crops. If grow- 
ing rank they should be pinched back in late August. 
When tying up in the spring, the canes should be 
cut back to four or five feet and the laterals to not 
more than eighteen inches. 

Blackberry enemies do not do extensive injury, 
as a rule, in well-cared-for beds. The most serious 
are: (i) the rust or blight, for which there is no 
cure but carefully pulling and burning the plants as 
fast as infested; (2) the blackberry-bush borer, for 
which burn infested canes; and (3) the recently 
introduced bramble flea-louse, which resembles the 
green plant-louse or aphis (page 161) except that 
it is a brisk jumper, like the flea-beetle. The leaves 



236 



Home Vegetable Gardening 



twist and curl up in summer and do not drop off 
in the fall. On cold early mornings, or wet weather, 
while the insects are sluggish, cut all infested shoots, 
collecting them in a tight box, and burn. 

BLACKBERRY VARIETIES 

As with the other small fruits, so many varieties 
are being introduced that it is difficult to give a list 
of the best for home use. Any selections from the 
following, however, will prove satisfactory, as they 
are tried-and-true : — Early King, Early Harvest, 
Wilson Junior, Kittatinny, Rathburn, Snyder, Erie. 

THE DEWBERRY 

This is really a trailing blackberry and needs the 
same culture, except that the canes are naturally 
slender and trailing and therefore, for garden cul- 
ture, must have support. They may be staked up, 
or a barrel hoop, supported by two stakes, makes 
a good support. In ripening, the dewberry is ten 
to fourteen days earlier than the blackberry, and for 
that reason a few plants should be included in the 
berry patch. Premo is the earliest sort, and Lucre- 
tia the standard. 

RASPBERRY 

The black and the red types are distinct in flavor, 
and both should be grown. The blackcaps need 



Berries and Small Fruits 237 



more room, about three by six or seven feet: for 
the reds three by five feet will be sufiicient. The 
blackcaps,, and a few of the reds, like Cuthbert, 
throw out fruiting side branches, and should have 
the main canes cut back at about two and a half 
feet to encourage the growth of these laterals, which, 
in the following spring, should be cut back to about 
one-third their length. The soil for raspberries 
should be clayey if possible, and moist, but not wet. 

RASPBERRY EXE MIES 

The orange rust, which attacks the blackberry- 
also, is a serious trouble. Pull up and burn all in- 
fested plants at once, as no good remedy has as yet 
been found. The cut-worm, especially in newly set 
beds, may sometimes prove destructive of the 
sprouting young canes. For treatment see page 165. 
The raspberr}--borer is the larva of a small, flat- 
tish, red-necked beetle, which bores to the center of 
the canes during summer growth, and kills them. 
Cut and burn. 

R-\SPBERRY VARIETIES 

Of the blackcaps, Gregg, ^VlcCormick, [Nlunger, 
Cumberland, Columbian, Palmer (very earlyj. and 
Eureka (latej. are all good sorts. Reds: Cuthbert, 
Cardinal (new ). Turner. Reliance. The King (extra 
early), Loudon (late). Yellow: Golden Queen. 



238 Home Vegetable Gardening 



CURRANTS 

The currant and gooseberry are very similar in 
their cultural requirements. A deep, rich and moist 
soil is the best — approaching a clayey loam. There 
need be no fear of giving too much manure, but it 
should be well rotted. Plenty of room, plenty of 
air, plenty of moisture, secured where necessary by 
a soil or other mulch in hot dry w^eather, are essen- 
tial to the production of the best fruit. 

The currant will stand probably as much abuse 
as any plant the home gardener will have to deal 
with. Stuck in a corner, smothered in sod, crowded 
with old wood, stripped by the currant-worm, it 
still struggles along from year to year, ever hope- 
fully trying to produce a meager crop of poor fruit. 
But these are not the sort you want. Although it 
is so tough, no fruit will respond to good care more 
quickly. 

To have it do well, give it room, four or five 
feet each way between bushes. Manure it liberally ; 
give it clean cultivation, and as the season gets 
hot and dry, mulch the soil, if you would be certain 
of a full-sized, full-flavored crop. Two bushes, 
well cared for, will yield more than a dozen half- 
neglected ones. Anywhere north of New York a 
full crop every year may be made almost certain. 



Berries and Small Fruits 239 



PRUNING CURRANTS 

Besides careful cultivation, to insure the best of 
fruit it is necessary to give some thought to the 
matter of pruning. The most convenient and the 
most satisfactory way is to keep it in the bush form. 
Set the plants singly, three or four feet apart, and 
so cut the new growth, which is generously pro- 
duced, as to retain a uniform bush shape, preferably 
rather open in the center. 

The fruit is produced on wood two or more 
years old. Therefore cut out branches either when 
very small, or not until four or five years later, 
after it has borne two or three crops of fruit. 
Therefore, in pruning currants, take out ( i ) super- 
fluous young growth; (2) old hard wood (as new 
wood will produce better fruit; and (3) all weak, 
broken, dead or diseased shoots; (4) during sum- 
mer, if the tips of the young growths kept for fruit- 
ing are pinched off, they will ripen up much better 
— meaning better fruit when they bear; (5) to 
maintain a good form, the whole plant may be 
cut back (never more than one-third) in the fall. 

In special situations it may be advisable to train 
the currant to one or a few main stems, as against 
a wall; this can be done, but it is less convenient. 
Also it brings greater danger from the currant- 
borer. 



2 40 Home Vegetable Gardening 

The black currant, used almost entirely for culi- 
nary or preserving purposes, is entirely difterent 
from the red and white ones. They are much larger 
and should be put five to six feet apart. Some of 
the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood, so the 
shoots should not be cut back. ]Moreover, old w^ood 
bears as good fruit as the new growth, and need not 
be cut out, unless the plant is getting crowded, for 
several years. As the wood is much heavier and 
stronger than the other currants, it is advisable 
gradually to develop the black currants into the tree 
form. 

ENEMIES OF THE CURRANT ' 

The worst of these is the common currant-womi. 
When he appears, which will be indicated by holes 
eaten in the lower leaves early in spring, generally 
before the plants bloom, spray at once with Paris 
green. If a second brood appears, spray with white 
hellebore (if this is not all washed off by the rain, 
wipe from the fruit when gathered). For the 
borer, cut and burn every infested shoot. Examine 
the bushes in late fall, and those in which the borers 
are at work will usually have a wilted appearance 
and be of a brownish color. 

VARIETIES OF CURRANTS 

Red Dutch, while older and smaller than some 



Berries and Small Fruits 241 

of the newer varieties, is hardier and not so likely 
to be hurt by the borer. London Market, Fay's 
Prolific, Perfection (new), and Prince Albert, are 
good sorts. White Grape is a good white. Naples, 
and Lee's Prolific are good black sorts. 

THE GOOSEBERRY 

This is given practically the same treatment as 
the currant. It is even more important that 
it should be given the coolest, airiest, location possi- 
ble, and the most moist soil. Even a partially 
shaded situation will do, but in such situations extra 
care must be taken to guard against the mildew — 
which is mentioned below. Summer mulching is, 
of course, of special benefit. 

In pruning the gooseberry, it is best to cut out 
to a very few, or even to a single stem. Keep the 
head open, to allow free circulation 0/ air. The 
extent of pruning will make a great difference in 
the size of the fruit; if fruit of the largest size is 
wanted, prune very close. All branches drooping 
to the ground should be removed. Keep the 
branches, as much as possible, from touching each 
other. 

GOOSEBERRY ENEMIES 

The currant-worm attacks the gooseberry also, 
arid is effectively handled by the arsenate of lead, 

16 



242 Home Vegetable Gardening 



Paris green or hellebore spraying, mentioned above. 

The great trouble in growing gooseberries suc- 
cessfully is the powdery mildew — a dirty, whitish 
fungous growth covering both fruit and leaves. It 
is especially destructive of the foreign varieties, the 
culture of which, until the advent of the potassium 
sulfide spray, was being practically abandoned. Use 
I oz. of potassium sulfide (liver of sulphur) to 2 
gals, water, and mix just before using. Spray thor- 
oughly three or four times a month, from the time 
the blossoms are opening until fruit is ripe. 

GOOSEBERRY VARIETIES 

Of the native gooseberries — which are the hard- 
iest, Downing and Houghton's Seedling are most 
used. Industry is an English variety, doing well 
here. Golden Prolific, Champion, and Columbus, are 
other good foreign sorts, but only when the mildew 
is successfully fought off. 

THE GRAPE 

No garden is so small that there cannot be found 
in it room for three or four grape-vines ; no fruit is 
more certain, and few more delicious. 

If it is convenient, a situation fully exposed to 
the sun, and sloping slightly, will be preferable. But 
any good soil, provided only it is rich and thor- 
oughly drained, will produce good results. 



Berries and Small Fruits 243 

If a few vines are to be set against walls, or in 
other out-of-the-way places, prepare the ground for 
them by excavating a good-sized hole, putting in a 
foot of coal cinders or other drainage material, and 
refilling with good heavy loam, enriched with old, 
well rotted manure and half a peck of wood ashes. 
For culture in the garden, such special preparation 
will not be necessary — although, if the soil is not in 
good shape, it will be advisable slightly to enrich 
the hills. 

One or two-year roots will be the most satisfac- 
tory to buy. They may be set in either fall or 
spring — the latter time, for New York or north, 
being generally preferable. When planting, the 
cane should be cut back to three or four eyes, and 
the roots should also be shortened back — usually 
about one-third. Be sure to make the hole large 
enough, when setting, to let the roots spread natu- 
rally, and work the soil in well around them with 
the fingers. Set them in firmly, by pressing down 
hard with the ball of the foot after firming by hand. 
They are set about six feet apart. 

GRAPE PRUNING 

As stated above, the vine is cut back, when plant- 
ing, to three or four eyes. The subsequent pruning 
— and the reader must at once distinguish between 
pruning, and training, or the way in which the vines 



244 Home Vegetable Gardening 

are placed — will determine more than anything else 
the success of the undertaking. Grapes depend 
more upon proper pruning than any other fruit or 
vegetable in the garden. Two principles must be 
kept track of in this work. First principle : the an- 
nual crop is borne only on canes of the same year's 
growth, springing from wood of the previous sea- 
son's growth. Second principle : the vine, if left to 
itself, zvill set three or four times the number of 
bunches it can properly mature. As a result of these 
facts, the following system of pruning has been de- 
veloped and must be followed for sure and full-sized 
crops. 

( 1 ) At time of planting, cut back to three or four 
eyes, and after these sprout leave only one (or two) 
of them, which should be staked up. 

(2) Following winter (December to March), 
leave only one cane and cut this back to three or 
four eyes. 

(3) Second growing season, save only two canes, 
even if several sprout, and train these to stake or 
trellis. These two vines, or arms, branching from 
the main stem, form the foundation for the one- 
year canes that bear the fruit. However, to pre- 
vent the vine's setting too much fruit (see second 
principle above) these arms must be cut back in 
order to limit the number of fruit-bearing canes that 
will spring from them, therefore : 

(4) Second winter pruning, cut back these arms 



Berries and Small Fruits 245 



to eight or ten buds — and we have prepared for the 
first crop of fruit, about forty bunches, as the fruit- 
ing cane from each bud will bear two bunches on 
the average. However these main arms will not 
bear fruiting-canes another year (see first principle 
above) and therefore: 

(5) At the third winter pruning, (a) of the canes 
that bore fruit, only the three or four nearest the 
main stem or trunk are left; (b) these are cut back 
to eight or ten buds each, and (c) everything else 
is ruthlessly cut away. 




A B C D 



The dotted portions of the grape vines indicate what should 
be cut away: A, when setting-; B, following winter; C, a 
year later; D, each winter thereafter. 

Each succeeding year the same system is con- 
tinued, care being taken to rub off, each May, buds 
or sprouts starting on the main trunk or arms. 

The wood, in addition to being cut back, must 



246 Home Vegetable Gardening 



be well ripened; and the wood does not ripen until 
after the fruit. It therefore sometimes becomes 
necessary to cut out some of the bunches in order 
to hasten the ripening of the rest. At the same time 
the application of some potash fertilizer w^ill be 
helpful. If the bunches do not ripen up quickly and 
pretty nearly together, the vine is overloaded and 
being damaged for the following year. 

The matter of pruning being mastered, the ques- 
tion of training is one of individual choice. Poles, 
trellises, arbors, walls — almost anything may be 
used. The most convenient system, however, and 
the one I would strongly recommend for practical 
home gardening for results, is known as the (modi- 
fied) Kniffen system. It is simplicity itself. A 
stout wire is stretched five or six feet above the 
ground; to this the single main trunks of the vine 
run up, and along it are stretched the two or three 
arms from which the fruiting-canes hang down. 
They occupy the least possible space, so that garden 
crops may be grown practically on the same ground. 
I have never seen it tried, but where garden space 
is limited I should think that the asparagus bed and 
the Knififen grape-arbor just described could be 
combined to great advantage by placing the vines, 
in spaces left for them, directly in the asparagus 
row. Of course the ground would have to be ma- 
nured for two crops, A 2-8-10 fertilizer is right 



Berries and Small Fruits 247 

for the grapes. If using stable manure, apply also 
ashes or some other potash fertilizer. 

If the old-fashioned arbor is used, the best way 
is to run the main trunk up over it and cut the? 
laterals back each year to two or three eyes. 

The most serious grape trouble which the home 
gardener is likely to encounter is the black-rot. 
Where only a few grapes are grown the simplest 
way of overcoming this disease is to get a few dozen 
cheap manila store-bags and fasten one, with a 
couple of ten-penny nails, over each bunch. Cut the 
mouth of the bag at sides and edges, cover the 
bunch, fold the flaps formed over the cane, and 
fasten. They are put on after the bunches are well 
formed and hasten the ripening of the fruit, as well 
as protecting it. On a larger scale, spraying will 
have to be resorted to. Use Bordeaux, 5-5-50, from 
third leaf's appearance to middle of July ; balance of 
season with ammoniacal copper carbonate. The 
spray should be applied in particular just before 
every rain — especially on the season's growth. Be- 
dsides the spraying, all trimmed-off wood, old leaves 
and twigs, withered bunches and grapes, or "mum- 
mies," and refuse of every description, should be 
carefully raked up in the spring and burned or 
buried. Also give clean culture and keep the main 
stems clean. 

The grape completes the list of the small fruits 



248 Home Vegetable Gardening 

worth while to the average home gardener. If you 
have not already experimented with them, do not 
let your garden go longer without them. They are 
all easity obtained (none costing more than a few 
cents each), and a very limited number will keep 
the family table well supplied with healthy delica- 
cies, which otherwise, in their best varieties and 
condition, could not be had at all. The various 
operations of setting out, pruning and spraying will 
soon become as familiar as those in the vegetable 
garden. There is no reason why every home gar- 
den should not have its few rows of small fruits, 
yielding their delicious harvests in abundance. 



Chapter XIX 



A CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS 

ONE of the greatest difficulties in gardening 
is to get things started ahead at the proper 
time, and yet upon the thoroughness with 
which this is done the success of the garden must 
depend, in large measure. 

The reader may remember that in a previous 
chapter (Chapter IV) the importance of accurately 
planning the work ahead was emphasized. I men- 
tioned there the check list used to make sure that 
everything would be carried out, or started ahead 
at the proper time — as with the sowing of seeds. 
The following garden operations, given month by 
month, will serve not only as a timely reminder of 
things to be done, but as the basis for such a check 
list. The importance of the preparations in all 
matters of gardening, is of course obvious. 

JANUARY 

Probably one of the good resolutions made with 
the New Year was a better garden for the coming 

(249) 



250 Home Vegetable Gardening 

summer. The psychologists claim that the only 
hope for resolutions is to nail them down at the 
start with an action — that seems to have more ef- 
fect in making an actual impression on the brain. 
So start the good work along by sending at once 
for several of the leading seed catalogues. 

Planting Plan. Make out a list of what you are 
going to want this year, and then make your Plant- 
ing Plan. See pages 18, 20. 

Seeds. Order your seed. Do it now while the 
seedsman's stock is full; while he is not rushed; 
while there is ample time to rectify mistakes if any 
occur. 

Manures. Altogether too few amateur gardeners 
realize the great importance of procuring early 
every pound of manures, of any kind, to be had. It 
often may be had cheaply at this time of year, and 
by composting, adding phosphate rock, and several 
turnings, if you have any place under cover where 
it can be collected, you can double its value before 
spring. 

Frames. Even at this season of the year do not 
fail to air the frames well on warm days. Prac- 
tically no water will be needed, but if the soil does 
dry out sufficiently to need it, apply early on a 
bright morning. 

Onions. It will not be too early, this month, to 
sow onions for spring transplanting outside. Get a 



Calendar 



packet each of Prizetaker, Ailsa Craig, Mammoth 
Silver-skin, or Gigantic Gibraltar. See facing p. 
ii8. 

Lettuce. Sow lettuce for spring crop under glass 
or in frames. 

Fruit. This is a good month to prune grapes, 
currants, gooseberries and peach trees, to avoid the 
rush that will come later. 

FEBRUARY 

Hotbeds. A little early for making them until 
after the 15th, but get all your material ready — 
manure, selected and stacked ; lumber ready for any 
new ones ; sash all in good repair. 

Starting Seeds. First part of the month, earliest 
planting of cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce should 
be made ; and two to four weeks later for main early 
crop. At this time also, beets and earliest celery. 

Tools. Overhaul them all now; order repairs. 
Get new catalogues and study new improvements 
and kinds you do not possess. 

Poles and brush. Whether you use the old-fash- 
ioned sort (now harder to obtain than they used to 
be) or make your ''poles" (facing p. 106) and use 
wire trellis for peas, attend to it now. 

Fruit. Finish up last month's work, if not all 
done. Also examine plum and cherry trees for 
black-knot. See page 219. 



252 Home Vegetable Gardening 



MARCH 

Hotbeds. If not made last of February, should 
be made at once. Somie of the seed sown last month 
will be ready for transplanting and going into the 
frames; also lettuce sown in January. Radish and 
carrot (forcing varieties) may be so\tn in alternat- 
ing rows (page 109). Give much more air; w^ater 
on bright mornings; be careful not to have them 
caught by suddenly cold nights after a bright warm 
day. 

Seed-sowing under glass. Last sowing of early 
cabbage and early summer cabbages (like Succes- 
sion), lettuce, rhubarb (for seedling plants), cauli- 
flower, radish, spinach, turnip, and early tomatoes ; 
towards last of month, late tomatoes and first of 
peppers, and egg-plant. Sweet peas often find a 
place in the vegetable garden; start a few early, to 
set out later ; they will do better than if started out- 
side. Start tomatoes for growing in frames. For 
early potatoes sprout in sand (page 112). 

Planting, outside. If an early spring, and the 
ground is sufficiently dry, sow onions, lettuce, beet, 
radish, (sweet peas), smooth peas, early carrot, cab- 
bage, leek, celery (main crop), and turnip. Set out 
new beds of asparagus, rhubarb and sea-kale (be 
sure to try a few plants of the latter; see page 125). 
Manure and fork up old beds of abo^^^e. 



Calendar 



253 



Fruit. Prune now, apple, plum and pear trees. 
And this is the last chance for lime-sulphur and 
miscible-oil sprays. 

APRIL 

Now the rush is on! Plan your work, and work 
your plan. But do not yield to the temptation to 
plant more than you can look out for later on. 
Remember it is much easier to sow seeds than to 
pull out weeds. 

The Frames. Air! water! and do not let the 
green plant-lice or the white-fly get a ghost of a 
chance to start. Almost every day the glass should 
be lifted entirely off. Care must be taken never to 
let the soil or flats become dried out; toward the 
end of the month, if it is bright and warm, begin 
watering towards evening instead of in early morn- 
ing, as you should have been doing through the 
winter. If proper attention is given to ventilation 
and moisture, there will not be much danger frona 
the green plant-louse (aphis) and white-fly, but at 
the first sign of one fight them to a finish. Use 
kerosene emulsion, tobacco dust, tobacco prepara- 
tions, or Aphine. See pages 158, 172. 

Seed sowing. Under glass : tomato, egg-plant 
and peppers. On sod : corn, cucumbers, meloHS, 
early squash, lima beans. 

Planting, outside. Onions, lettuce, beet, etc., if 



2 54 Home Vegetable Gardening 

not put in last month ; also parsnip, salsify, parsley, 
wrinkled peas, endive. Toward the end of this 
month (or first part of next) second plantings of 
these. Set out plants of early cabbage (and the 
cabbage group) lettuce, onion sets, sprouted pota- 
toes, beets, etc. 

In the Garden. Cultivate between rows of sowed 
crops; weed out by hand just as soon as they are 
jUp enough to be seen; watch for cut-worms and 
root-maggots. 

Fruit. Thin out all old blackberry canes, dew- 
berry and raspberry canes (if this was not done, as 
it should have been, directly after the fruiting sea- 
son last summer). Be ready for first spraying of 
early-blossoming trees. Set out new strawberry 
beds, small fruits and fruit trees. 

MAY 

Keep ahead of the weeds. This is the month 
when those warm, south, driving rains often keep 
the ground too wet to work for days at a time, and 
weeds grow by leaps and bounds. Woe betide the 
gardener whose rows of sprouting onions, beets, 
carrots, etc., once become green with wild turnip 
and other rapid-growing intruders. Clean cultiva- 
tion and slight hilling of plants set out are also 
essential. 

The Frames. These will not need so much atten- 



Calendar 



255 



tion now, but care must be taken to guard tender 
plants, such as tomatoes, egg-plant and peppers, 
against sudden late frosts. The sash may be left 
off most of the time. Water copiously and often. 

Plantings outside. First part of the month : early 
beans, early corn, okra and late potatoes may be 
put in; and first tomatoes set out — even if a few 
are lost — they are readily replaced. Finish setting 
out cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, beets, etc., from 
frames. Latter part of month, if warm : corn, cu- 
cumbers, some of sods from frames and early squash 
as traps where late crop is to be planted or set. 
Page 162. 

Pruif. Be on time with first sprayings of late- 
blossoming fruits — apples, etc. Rub off from 
grape vines the shoots that are not wanted. 

JUNE 

Frequent, shallozv cultivation! 

Firm seeds in dry soil (facing p. 93). Plant wax 
beans, lima beans, pole beams, melons, corn, etc., 
and successive crops of lettuce, radish, etc. 

Top-dress growing crops that need special ma- 
nure (such as nitrate of soda on onions). Prune 
tomatoes, and cut out some foliage for extra early 
tomatoes. Toward end of month set celery and 
late cabbage. Also sow beans, beets, corn, etc., for 
early fall crops. Spray where necessary. Allow 
asparagus to grow to tops. 



256 Home Vegetable Gardening 



Fruit. Attend to spraying fruit trees and cur- 
rants and gooseberries. Make pot-layers of straw- 
berries for July setting. Page 227. 

JULY 

Maintain frequent, shallow cultivation. Set out 
late cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks and celery. 
Sow beans, beets, corn, etc., for late fall crops. Irri- 
gate where needed. 

Fruit. Pinch back new canes of blackberry, dew- 
berry and raspberry. Rub off second crop of buds 
on grapes. Thin out if too many bunches ; also on 
plums, peaches and other fruit too thick, or touch- 
ing. Pot-layered strawberries may be set out. 

AUGUST 

Keep the garden clean from late weeds — espe- 
cially purslane, the hot-weather weed pest, which 
should be always removed from the garden and 
burned or rotted down. 

Sow spinach, rutabaga turnip, bush beans and 
peas for last fall crop. During first part of month, 
late celery may still be put out. Sow lettuce for 
early fall crop, in frames. First lot of endive should 
be tied up for blanching. 

Fruit. Strawberries may be set, and pot-layered 
plants, if wanted to bear a full crop the following 
season (see page 228), should be put in by the 15th 
Thin out and bag grapes (page 246). 



Calendar 



257 



SEPTEMBER 

Frames. Set in lettuce started in August. Sow 
radishes and successive crop of lettuce. Cooler 
weather begins to tell on late-planted crops. Give 
cabbage, cauliflower, etc., deeper cultivation. ''Han- 
dle" celery wanted for early use (page 122). 

Harvest and store onions (page 178). Get squash 
under cover before frost. From the 1 5th to 25th 
sow spinach, onions, borecole for wintering over. 
Sow down thickly to rye all plots as fast as cleared 
of summer crops ; or plow heavy land in ridges. 
Attend to draining. 

Fruit. Trees may be set. Procure barrels for 
storing fruit in winter. At harvest time it is often 
impossible to get them at any price. 

OCTOBER 

Get ready for winter. Blanch rest of endive. 
Bank celery, to be used before Christmas, where it 
is. Gather tomatoes, melons, etc., to keep as long 
as possible. Keep especially clean and well culti- 
vated all crops to be wintered over. Late in the 
month store cabbage and cauliflower ; also beets, car- 
rots, and other root crops. Get boxes, barrels, bins, 
sand or sphagnum moss ready beforehand, to save 
time in packing. 

Clean the garden; store poles, etc., worth keeping 

17 



258 Home Vegetable Gardening 



over; burn everything else that will not rot; and 
compost everything that will. 

Fruit. Har\^est apples, etc. Pick winter pears 
just before hard frosts, and store in dry dark place. 

NOVEMBER 

Frames. Make deep hotbeds for winter lettuce 
and radishes. Construct frames for use next spring 
(page 75). See that vegetables in cellar, bins, and 
sheds are safe from freezing. Trench or store celery 
for spring use. Take in balance of all root crops 
if any remain in the ground, except, of course, pars- 
nip and salsify for spring use. Put rough manure 
on asparagus and rhubarb beds. Get mulch ready 
for spinach, etc., to be wintered over, if they occupy 
exposed locations. 

Fruit. Obtain marsh or salt hay for mulching 
strawberries. Cut out old wood of cane-fruits — 
blackberries, etc.. if not done after gathering fruit. 
Look over fruit trees for borers. 

DECEMBER 

Cover celery stored last month, if trenched out- 
of-doors. Use only light, loose material at first, 
gradually covering for winter. Put mulch on 
spinach, etc. 

Fruit. Mulch strawberries. Prune grape-vines 
(see page 242) ; make first application of winter 
sprays for fruit trees. 



Calendar 



AND THEN 

set about procuring manures of all kinds from every 
available source. Remember that anything which 
will rot will add to the value of your manure pile. 
Muck, lime, old plastering, sods, weeds (earth and 
all), street, stable and yard sweepings — all these 
and num.erous others will increase your garden suc- 
cesses of next year. 



Chapter XX 

CONCLUSION 

IT is with a feeling in whicli there is something 
of fear that I close these pages — fear that 
many of those little things which become sec- 
ond nature to the grower of plants and seem unim- 
portant, but which sometimes are just the things that 
the beginner wants to know about, may have been 
inadvertently left out. In every operation described, 
however, I have tried to mention all necessary de- 
tails. I would urge the reader, nevertheless, to study 
as thoroughly as possible all the garden problems 
with which he will find himself confronted and to 
this end recommend that he read several of the many 
garden books which are now to be had. It must 
be to his advantage to see even the same subjects 
presented again from other points of view. The 
more familiar he can make himself, both in theory 
and in practice, with all the multitude of opera- 
tions which modern gardening involves, the greater 
success will he attain. 

Personally, the further I have gone into the grow- 

(260) 



Conclusion 



261 



ing of things — and that has now become my busi- 
ness as well as my pleasure — the more absorbingly 
interesting I find it. Each season, each crop, offers 
its own problems and a reward for the correct solu- 
tion of them. It is a work which, even to the begin- 
ner, presents the opportunity of deducting new 
conclusions, trying new experiments, making new 
discoveries. It is a work which offers pleasant and 
healthy recreation to the many whose days must be, 
for the most part, spent in office or shop; and it 
gives very substantial help in the world-old problem 
of making both ends meet. 

Let the garden beginner be not disappointed if 
he does not succeed, for the first season or two, or 
possibly three, with everything he plants. There is 
usually a preventable reason for the failure, and 
studious observation will reveal it. With the mod- 
ern success in the application of insecticides and 
fungicides, and the extension of the practice of irri- 
gation, the subject of gardening begins to be re- 
duced to a scientific and (what is mxore to the point) 
a sure basis. We are getting control of the uncer- 
tain factors. All this affects first, perhaps, the 
person who grows for profit, but with our present 
wide circulation of every new idea and discovery in 
such matters, it must reach soon to every remote 
home garden patch which is cared for by a wide- 
awake gardener. 



262 Home Vegetable Gardening 

Such a person, from the fact that he or she is 
reading a new garden book, I take the reader to be. 
I hope this volume, condensed though it is, has 
added to your fund of practical garden information ; 
that it will help to grow that proverbial second 
blade of grass. I have only to add, as I turn again 
to the problems waiting for me in field and under 
glass, that I wish you all success in your work — the 
making of better gardens in America. 



MAY 25 15 H 




One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
■ WAY 25 19! t 



